Behind the Kudzu Curtain

2010-04-28T12:37:00.000-04:00

Why I haven't been blogging lately......

Just too busy watching hilarious baby tricks, but generous enough to share this one with you!

2010-01-11T12:41:00.002-05:00

The Transparent Homeschool

I love sharing on my blog when things go great, and I can post pictures of my kids doing awesome creative things, and I am blessed when others are inspired to try some of our ideas too.    I also love sharing when things go painfully off course, so that moms are encouraged that they are not alone in their struggles.    Today was a great example of this............

We are starting back to school today after a long break that brought new little Rosalie Jane into our lives. We tried to start back last week but sickness derailed us. So today was the big day.    I got up early and made a great plan....a really good plan.   It goes like this:

1. Using Hymns for a Kid's Heart I will teach them the first verse "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing". I will tell them the story of Charles Wesley...that he had 18 brothers and sisters, was homeschooled, and wrote over 6000 hymns.   We will all sing together and sound awesome.   I will be incredibly entertaining and hold their attention, especially when I tell them my new joke: "When is it okay to sing with your mouth full? When your mouth is filled with praise!"   They'll love it.

            REALITY:
child one: still feeling slightly sick, no voice, sat glumly at the table with arms crossed.

child two: eyes glazed over, staring off into space, slightly moving lips, no sound

child three: trying, bless his heart, but couldn't read all the words yet

child four: where did she go? She was just here..........

child five: fills the air with something other than song, if you know what I mean.
                                     - which means I have to change the diaper, so I risk losing everyone from the table.

but I tell myself "That's okay....first day is always rough. Satan does not want these kids praising God. I have to soldier on. Tomorrow will be better. So onto item 2 on the agenda."

2. Using Your Child and The Bible by Rick Osborne I'll teach them why the Bible is the most important book.   I'll teach them the God has breathed life into the bible, and that it is useful for teaching us what is true, correcting our mistakes, making our lives whole again, and training us to do what is right.   I'll let them read Joshua 1:1-9, and print off great coloring pages and worksheets from this great FREE resource.   All children will be refreshed and leave the table with a renewed passion to study the word of God. Okay, I was pretty sure this would not happen, but a mom can dream.

Reality:

Child 1: still feeling slightly sick, no voice, sat glumly at the table with arms crossed

Child 2: immediately spilled hot chocolate on his pages, prompting a scolding from child #1 child 2 runs crying upstairs

Child 3: passionately raises his hand every 30 seconds and regurgatates every bible lesson he's ever             heard that is completely unrelated to what we are talking about. And I thought he wasn't listening.

Child 4: colored all the pages before everyone got to the table.   Hummed to herself during entire             bible reading seriously irritating child 2 who was doing the reading.

Child 5: confirmed my suspicion that she is going through a growth spurt, and my suspicion that I
                          shouldn't have eaten onions yesterday on my salad. nurse, cry, repeat.

After all of this, I pull out a surprise present for Child 1, a new grown up bible study to do on her own without the little siblings.   I tell her I'll do the breakfast dishes and send her up to her quiet room to have what I imagine will be a wonderful quiet time with God that will completely turn her attitude around, allowing for smooth sailing for the rest of the day.   Due to preteen hormones, the slight prompting of the Holy Spirit during her study showed her that she was probably a little harsh on child 2 this morning, which sent her into a sobbing fit that resulted in her wearing herself out and falling asleep on the couch.

Somewhere in all that there was also a broken plate and a cat poop in the closet. Ick.

It's a really good thing that that bible verse that child #2 read outloud this morning was this:
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Thanks God, that you know homeschooling 5 little kids is not for the faint of heart...you know I need encouragement to stand strong and keep going when it doesn't come easy.   You know that I fear I'll never measure up to the standard I have set for myself, and tell me to not let that get me down, because you are with me.    Maybe the lesson today wasn't for them, but for me.

Math anyone?

Hymns for a Kid's Heart

Your Child and the Bible (Learning for Life)

Experiencing the Heart of Jesus: Student Edition (Lucado, Max)

2009-12-29T08:29:00.002-05:00

Quiet Time Encouragement

Pregnancy always seems to derail my quiet time....first the morning nausea makes it hard to focus, then the discomfort and lack of sleep that comes from being ever so large makes it hard to beat the kids out of bed.    Thankfully, once the babies are born, I tend to have an unusual amount of energy despite the lack of sleep.    I usually get up after the early morning nursing, at 4-5am and have a quiet time. This has been the pattern with all my babies, and I look back on those times as "spiritual sprints" where God has allowed me to have more extended times of quietness with him.   Seeing as this is most likely the last time I will pass through this baby-early-waking season, I want to make the most of it and try to make early waking a habit that is not dependent on a hungry baby...but dependent on a hungry mommy, needing God's word as nourishment for her soul.    I thought I would share some of the tools that I am using this time around.

I use Tapestry of Grace for our school curriculum.   The author, Marcia Sommerville, is very concerned about nourishing the moms who are teaching, as well as the children.   She has developed some tools that she sells on a CD called Garden Tryst.   There is a teaching CD, as well as a CD of printable forms you can use to make your own notebook.   It is very reasonably priced at 10.00 and can be purchased here.   You can read about what is included in this article.     I'll give you a little run-down of how it works for me. I wish I could show you some sample pages, but I'm afraid I would be violating her copyright.

Our church has a bible reading plan that I use for scripture reading, and this dovetails perfectly with Garden Tryst.    Every day there are two readings from the New Testament, and two from the Old Testament. The first section of my daily pages in my notebook give me space to journal about these readings, and talk to God about what I am learning.   Then there is a section for me to focus on the attributes of God, and praise and worship him based on the aspects of his character he is revealing to me at that time.   Then I move on to my least favorite part....dealing with the sin issues in my life. The forms ask me to think about my sin, and how they manifest themselves in thought, word, and action.    There are many additional forms provided to help root these sins out and do the hard work necessary do away with them.     For example...after looking back at my admittedly sporadic journaling over the past two years, I've noticed that I very constistantly struggle with impatience with my children, especially in the afternoon.   This usually involves me resorting to yelling, sending children to their rooms, or tuning them out all together.   There are consequences resulting from this. One is that they sense my not wanting to deal with them or hear their concerns, and the second is that I am not dealing with their heart issues with the appropriate training and correction.   When I realized exactly how far back I had been journaling about this same problem I was really embarrassed to have done nothing to deal with it, and to not have taken my sin seriously.   It was time to pull out some of the other forms to help me study the issues involved in a more indepth manner.    I realized that I was really not looking at myself as a servant of God, or my family, but looking at myself more as a person who deserved to be served, and have her desires (clean house, quiet and peaceful atmosphere) met despite the costs to others. I'm using these forms over the coming weeks to figure out exactly what thoughts and attitudes that I need to take off, and which ones I need to put on.

These forms have really helped me to study scripture in an organized manner, and are helping me to not gloss over the truths without putting them into practice.   I highly recommend this wonderful, incredibly priced resource.   I think it is good for both men and women. My husband has been using it as well, and finds it very beneficial in his life.   By both using the same resources, it makes it easy to communicate to each other about what we are learning, and we are able to hold each other accountable to staying on track and following up on what God is showing us.

The bible reading plan starts up again on January 1st...I'd encourage you to order your own copy of Garden Tryst to make the most out of your quiet times in 2010.

2009-12-28T17:41:00.002-05:00

You learn something new everyday...I just learned to add hyperlinks to link the recipes in our dinner menu...if anyone wants to cook along with the Richards family, just click on the purple recipe title and it will take you to the recipe. Tonight it's cheese grits.....yumm.

2009-12-28T13:04:00.005-05:00

Not to brag, but my sister sent us the most awesome Christmas gift for families with little kids.

This little beauty is a instant gratification lover's dream. It makes popsicles out of healthy ingredients almost instantly. You can even make them stripey or fill them with cream or yogurt. You just keep the insert in the freezer for at least 24 hours (ours lives in the freezer) and you can make up to 9 popcicles without re-freezing it. What a great way to use up the last bit of the smoothie in the blender! There is a great video at William Sonoma that shows how it works.

My sister gave me the heads up that it was coming, so when it arrived, Brendan did surgery on the beautifully wrapped package to remove the inserts and hide them in the freezer, as we figured that as soon as the present was opened on Christmas morning the little people who live in our home would NOT want to wait 24 hours to make these beauties! It was a good call, because they all decided that the special juice I bought for Christmas had to be made into stripey popsicles for breakfast. I think we have a new Christmas breakfast tradition on our hands.

And can I just add that my sister is such an awesome auntie that she didn't want any of her neices and nephews to have to wait even a few minutes for a popsicle, so she sent TWO!!! So, if you stop by this summer, make sure you ask to make yourself a stripey popsicle. It is way too much fun!

2009-12-28T12:46:00.004-05:00

Oh, it's scary long ago since I posted....I'm so embarrassed...kind of like the friend you know you should call, but then so much time goes by that you feel stupid making the call at all....know what I mean? Anyway...I pledge to blog more, because I love the record it leaves of my life with 5 little hilarious people and one big one who is just as entertaining.

So much has happened in the last 6 months! We spent most of it homebound because of a pregnancy complication. I was diagnosed with a complete placenta previa, and was told to expect a c-section. Miracles abound around here, and sure enough, God, in his infinate mercy and goodness, chose to move it safely out of the way. My doctor said that it was a "once in a lifetime" miracle, and gave God all the glory. After that scare was over, the good doctor confined me to the house for the remainder of the pregnancy because of the H1N1 scare, which could have been deadly for myself and the baby, since I was unable to take the vaccine.

It was hard being isolated, but nice to be home and not running around as much. It was all worth it when Rosalie Jane came into the world two weeks early on November 9th. It was a beautiful birth and we are both healthy and well. She is six weeks old and slept a 7 hour stretch last night, which is so awesome! (it's a crying shame someone else got up at 2am requiring my attention - I didn't get to take advantage of the sleep!) I'll leave you with a picture (or three) of our new sweet girl and will post her birth story soon.

2009-06-20T14:25:00.004-04:00

Come visit Becca's newest idea!!! Becca has Christmas on the brain 365 days a year, and has requested that I partner with her on her new blog Creative-Christmas Everyday we are posting great ideas for getting ready for Christmas and making it a stress free holiday. She has christened this week "Purse Week" and will be demonstrating a different purse making technique every day. At the end of the week she will host a give-away for your favorite purse. So visit her and leave her lots of comments for her drawing!

Love Lesli

2009-06-18T09:55:00.002-04:00

Again, in honor of Father's Day, I will post some of my favorite photos of the Ultimate Dad.......... Isn't he just dreamy? Hey, stop checking out my husband. Look at your own.

2009-06-18T08:59:00.002-04:00

I am participating in the Ultimate Recipe Swap at www.lifeasmom.com

Today's theme is ........drumroll please.............Summer Desserts

I'm going to capitalize on the fact that it is Father's Day Weekend, and since I'm married to the Ultimate Dad, I'm going to get all squishy and romantic by posting a recipe that a good friend made for our unbelievable luau wedding shower, complete with Polynesian dancers. (Brendan loves all things Hawaiian....if I ever get my own reality show, like Jon and Kate, and can jet him off to wherever I choose on someone else's dime, I'll take Brendan to Hawaii.) I remember being blown away by all the detail and effort they went into for this party. Too bad it was pre-digital days, and the photos are languishing in a cardboard box, or I'd post them. Maybe someday..........

So, without further comment, I present to you Shari Young's Fabulous Pina Colada Cake

Pina Colada Cake

Cake

1 package white layer cake mix

1 package vanilla instant pie pudding

3/4 cups water

1 cup flaked coconut

3 eggs

1/3 cup dark bacardi rum

1/4 cup Wesson oil

Put all ingredients except coconut in large mixer bowl. Beat 4 minutes. Stir in coconut. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch pans. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Do not underbake. Cool in pans 15 minutes, then cool on rack.

Frosting

1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice

1 package vanilla pudding

1/3 cup dark rum

1 container (9 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

Combine all ingredients except Cool Whip in bowl. Beat until well blended. Fold in Cool Whip. Top with extra coconut.

Enjoy!

2009-06-17T10:10:00.004-04:00

Oh dear. My poor neglected blog. My friend Dave has suggested that Facebook is killing our blogs....I'd have to agree. That and finishing school, major home projects, and the pool calling my name. I was also remaining silent because it was hard not to blog about our latest big event...we are expecting our fifth baby in November. We were waiting to get through the first trimester and visits from family to let the cat out of the bag. Now I am free to speak. This pregnancy is going very well, with only a few moments of nausea here and there. The baby looks healthy, and we go for our ultrasound in three weeks.

We have also been very busy with swim team for Rebecca. She has been swimming her heart out every day for the past six weeks, and every week she brings home ribbons from her meet showing that her hard work is paying off. I'm very proud of her, because swimming does not come easy for her, and because most things do, it is easy for her to get frustrated and quit the things that do not. After spending the first day in tears, she got to work and put her all into improving. I bear some responsibilty for her difficulties, as I have contributed the lack of physical coordination and general hatred of exercise to the gene pool. We are ultimately hoping to marry off all our children to extremely athletic people, to try to breed it out of them.

It seems almost surreal that it is almost July, which means that it is almost August, which is when school starts here in Georgia. Which means that I must get to the planning........care to join me?

First in order is a post mortem of last year....what worked? what didn't? who needs more work on certain skills, etc.... what character traits could use some honing in on?

Let's start with that today.

What worked? Our curriculum choices were great. We will be sticking with Tapestry of Grace again. We will be starting with Year 2, Units 3-4 in the fall, and moving to Year 3, Units 1-2 in the winter. This means that we will be starting with American History for the first part of the year. The boys are excited about studying "cowboys and Indians". This means we will be making even more weaponry to add to our medieval collection.

What didn't work? We need more structure in our school day. We also need some more dedicated space. We made the decision to use the big room in our basement for a school room. Brendan is hard at work creating the ultimate homeschool space, complete with lots of cabinets, window seats for reading, custom desks, and a whole wall of book shelves for the teacher, oh joy of joys! I have been reading Sue Patrick's Workboxes book, and we will be trying out her system, including having the kids clock in and out of school each day. More on this book in a future post..... I will be taking them all down there at 8:30 (okay, maybe 9:00) and expecting them to all get their work done promptly. Okay, maybe this is a dream, but go with it. I am not liking school getting stretched out to all hours of the evening, not to mention school supplies taking over the entire house. Everything will stay in it's basement home. This also means that certain little people won't be dragging dress up clothes through every room of the house during school time. I'm sure that there will be kinks to work out, but for now, this is my plan.

Rebecca was not happy with my math and science teaching this year and told me "you are holding me back"......hey, this did not hurt my feelings. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't tell me this in third grade. She will be attending Heritage Academy this year (providing the woodworking jobs keep rolling in for Brendan) three days per week. This will free me up to work more on getting Luke closer to being an independent worker, and Samuel closer to sitting on a chair for more than three seconds. Oh, and I will have time to have time to give birth. That's important.

Skills we need to work on this year: Phonics, phonics, and more phonics. Sight words. Multiplication tables. Division facts. Teaching a very concrete thinker to write with imagination.

Skills I need to work on this year: (Moms! How often do we overlook this category! Do not overlook your ongoing education as a homeschool teacher, mother, wife, and follower of Christ!)

Consistancy. Patience. Not letting one child's education override another. Spending more time researching on teaching writing. Balance. Carefully nurturing my spiritual life so it trickles down onto little people.

Ladies...what is your plan for improving the year? Link to your blog in the comments section, and we can all learn from each other. Let's put some serious thought into where we will be putting our effort into this year!

Blessings, Lesli

2009-02-26T11:15:00.002-05:00

One of the reasons that I haven't been blogging as much is that Taaryn clued me in to Google Reader, which truly rocks. Now I have about 50 blogs I look at for creative inspiration. I've decided to share a few of my favorites.....one of them is Jeanne Winter's blog at http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/ She is an amazing artist....I love her ability to spread the Word all over her home. Right now she is having an absolutely fabulously generous giveaway on her blog...just comment on her blog to have a chance to win one of these (I SOOOOOOOO want this. If you win, will you give it to me?) and four other great gifts.

Or you could remember that there are only 302 days until Christmas and get started making a batch of these.....I'm thinking of changing them for Easter, so don't be surprised if you get one. To see her great tutorial, click here: http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2008/11/candle-inspirations.html

And while you are at it, you could remember that Easter is coming to, and make some of these for your Easter breakfast. If you would like to know how, click here: http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2008/02/easter-placecard-idea.html

Or maybe you are not as talented as my good friend Rachel Pate at http://scripturepainting.com/ (I am the proud owner of the painting on her home page) and would like to add some scripture you your furniture. Grab some Modge Podge and add a verse to a piece of furniture. See how Jeanne did it at http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2009/02/scripture-cabinet-redo.html

I think I'll try to find some verse about the wrath of God falling on those who don't put their socks away for the boys bedroom. Think there is one in there about that? Probably not, because He is so full of grace for little boys, and me too. Maybe I'll find a verse about grace, and be done with it.

Or you could purchase her great book by clicking on the link to the left of my blog.

And one last final idea that I might tweak for Mother's Day is this great Valentine card...I'd love to make these for all the Grandma's....and maybe a big one on my wall.

Happy blog reading, and don't forget to enter her giveaway so you can win that big fish and give it to me....my birthday is coming up, you know.

Love, Lesli

2009-02-25T09:18:00.002-05:00

Breaking the blogging fast for breaking news that occurred in the Richards household this week:

SNAKE IN THE COMPOSTER (or life in the South.)
oh my.
daughter: Mom, did you put a hose in the composter?
me: No.
daughter: Then there is a HUGE big black snake coiled right on top of the compost pile.
me: (frantically thinking how I can garden without ever going outside again) Well, it is a nice warm place for him to be, and he eats mice and rats, so let's leave him be. (Do not show fear. Do not show fear. Do not transfer irrational terrors to children. ) Hey Luke, there is a black snake in the composter. Do you want to see it?

Brave Son: Goes out to composter with camera.
Me: (Hiding behind locked doors and double paned windows)

Brave Son: (takes picture) Mom, it's just bananas.

Me: Whew. I can again dump compost. Or maybe not. It does seem like a logical place for a snake to sleep. Better play it safe. Brave Son has now inherited the job of feeding our new snake "Bob Dole".

2008-12-02T02:07:00.002-05:00

I wanted to post Brendan's comments to my autism post....he tempers my frustration on my rough days so well. He reminded me this article a good friend gave us when Luke was first diagnosed.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND By Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And for some, the pain of that will never go away... because the loss of that dream is a significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Here are Brendan's comments:
Let me put it another way.Let's say you were planning a trip to Italy. What would you do? You would get a map of the county and read about the history and chart a course for the interesting things to see and do. You may pick up few Italian words or phrases to help yourself get around. You would find the best (safest) way to change US$ to the local currency. You would spend every day looking forward to your trip, excited to see new things and meet new people and enjoy new experiences.Finally, the day has come. You get on the plane fully expecting to arrive in Italy. Only, you didn't. You landed in Amsterdam. What do you know about Amsterdam...nothing. Where do you go next? You don't know because you can't read the street signs and you don't know the language. You have no idea what the local currency rate is, nor where the nearest bank is. You're scared. You wonder "How am I going to get back home?".You immediately jump into survival mode. Find a place to stay and get some food (find the best place in the country to get services for your child and the resources/therapy he needs). Next, mostly through trial and error, you try a few things and venture farther away from your hotel, while being reasonbly safe. (You let your child go to a friend's house for a play date) If that goes well, maybe you let him do it again. If not, then you know you can't go down that street until you know more about it. Then there is the restaurant next to the hotel. The food is delicious, but makes you sick. However, the more and more you eat there, the more and more you want to keep eating there. It's not gluttany though. Turns out, there is something in the food that acts like an opiate on the brain. This is not a simple food allergy. (Try to eliminate all foods with any trace of wheat and/or dairy on a single income. A loaf of rice bread is about $6, which is 1/2 the size of a normal loaf. Soy milk is effectivly over $5 per gallon).However, every once in a while, God reveals to me how beautiful and unique Amsterdam really is. It's not that it's only beautiful once in a while, it's beautiful all the time, I just don't see it cause I'm too focused on the fact it's not Italy.Our son Luke is a beautiful child who is fearfully and wonderfly made. He's bright, funny, a major schedule junkie (needs to know the next two or three events that are going to happen next). He is incredibly sensitive. He's our Amsterdam. We learn more and more about him everyday. Sometimes we're missing several peices to the puzzle, sometimes the picture is real clear.Sorry (again) about the apparent rant. Lesli does a phenomenal job. I can only imagine that she gets her energy from the One who created it all! I pray that the Lord would continue to encourage and uplift her and give her the strength to press on.

Thanks for all the kind notes and comments from all who are lifting us up on this journey.

2008-12-01T16:27:00.001-05:00

And here is a goodie for those of you who endured my latest rant.....

A free lapbook to go with the Kit Kittredge movie that just came out on video. Rebecca and I purposely didn't see it in the movie theater so that we could keep our tradition of watching the latest American Girl movie the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Just click here:
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/KitKittredgeLapbook.html

2008-12-01T15:06:00.002-05:00

This morning I was amazed to see this headline on FOX news.

Study: Autism Puts Unprecedented Financial Strain on Families

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459644,00.html

You can read the story here. My first reaction was to slap my forehead in mock surprise and let out a resounding "NO KIDDING?" It's taken them all these years to figure that out? When insurance companies deny therapy costs or set ridiculously low limits on therapy, like our measly 20 visits per year (try more like 20 per month if our son was getting what he really and truly needed to reach his full potential) what are parents to do? We made the difficult decision to pour every cent we had into Luke's care, without thought of the future financial impact. We felt that if we could do this until he was at least 5, he'd have a shot at independent living as an adult. I'm glad we did it, although it stinks to feel like you will never crawl out of the debt hole autism creates, especially when all the recent economic news bodes for an even tighter budget. I constantly feel guilty that I am not able to afford RDI therapy for him right now, which is what he really needs. I have bought the therapists manual and am trying to teach it to myself, so I can at least do some things at home. Now if I can just make my other kids understand why there isn't money for the things they would like to do, like sports and music lessons. They are pretty understanding about it, but I worry about how not having these extra things under their belts will effect their college admissions.

Why am I blogging about this? I feel like I am whining. I hate whiners. I try not to complain about the autism thing too much.....our son is so much more high functioning than any medical professionals predicted....we definitely were blessed with healing that many families would be happy to have. But the trouble is, the better he gets, I always want more. I always up the ante. Especially during difficult periods. Someone made a comment to me the other day "The older he gets, the more obvious his disability is." Not really what I wanted to hear, especially since Luke was obviously having a rough times with all the changes in the schedule holidays bring. Anyone who ever bothered to "google" autism and read a page or two would understand why. Anyone who had seen the movie "Rainman" would understand why (which is where most peoples knowledge of autism starts and stops). I don't know how they wanted me to respond. I fought the urge to roll off a snarky Hanna Montana style "Ya think?" I just said calmly and simply, "Yes, it is." The very same day someone else made the comment that his social scripting and lack of flexibility was just "to get attention". Newsflash: 13 of the top neurologists and developmental pediatricians in the country disagree with you. Please. Pick up a stinking book and educate yourself about autism if you really love my kid. Advocate for us to your local politicians. Fight for safe vaccines and schedules. We are too busy caring for the daily needs of our kids, we don't have time to do it ourselves. Pray for us because you have no idea how much stress and pressure autism puts on marriages, siblings, family relationships, finances....the list goes on and on. But the very bottom line, and the one sure thing is that God is sovereign over autism, and one way or another, will someday lift the burden, either here, or the other side of heaven. Of that, I am quite confident, so I move steady on. Just remind me now and then, in case I forget. And allow me an angry post now and then. Sometimes it helps to vent. But more than anything, I want to express that I know God has the best in mind for our family, and for whatever reason this includes autism. He gives and takes away, yet still my heart will say "Blessed be the name of the Lord". Just typing that now made my heart unclench a bit, so I will hit the "publish" button, in hopes that someone out there may read those words and feel their heart unclench a little.

2008-11-27T08:48:00.002-05:00

Today....a shout out to my non-homeschooling friends......check out this really cool lunch survey to stick in your child's lunch box. Check it out at Family Fun Magazine and click on "lunch survey" WAY COOL....almost makes me want to send mine to school. Or not. Then we'd have to get up early. :)

2008-11-25T08:19:00.003-05:00

This is a puzzle that Brendan cut and I painted. All the pieces fit into the stable. I worked on the intricate little pieces on and off for 10 years! Last year we finished them, and hopefully this will become Lilly Pie's special Christmas decoration for her to pass on!
Christmas is coming so fast that I can't believe it....this is the week to pull out all our traditional Christmas decorations, since we have a short season this year, and we won't be having company at Thanksgiving. One of the things I'll be busy with this week is wrapping all the children's Christmas books. We have collected many over the years, and each child has a basket of wrapped age appropriate Christmas books. They pick one each night to read. When we first started, we only had a few books, and would open them on Sunday nights. Now we can almost start at Thanksgiving and read one every night! It is one of their favorite traditions. The Nativity Story is always wrapped in gold paper, and we save that one for Christmas Eve. A good source to collect Christmas books is Christian Book Distributors . They often have big packages of Christmas books for deep discounts.

This year, however, I have a bittersweet deliema. My oldest is growing up into a beautiful young lady, yet getting a little old for the tradition she has always loved so much. I remember the sad feeling when you grow up just enough that Christmas ceases to be so magical, but not quite enough to understand on a heart level the real spiritual significance of the holiday, so I'd still like to do something fun for her to replace the fun of getting to open a book every night. She has a few books she still loves, but they are not books that she can read in one evening. She loves Charles Dickens Christmas Carol, and her American Girl Treasury, and could probably fill the season with reading those. I was thinking of making a felt advent calender like this on at www.purlbee.com/felt-advent-calend/ for her door. I was thinking that Brendan and I and the boys could write her encouraging notes to put in the pockets, and that I could sprinkle some little trinkets here and there, like a nail polish or a barrette, maybe an ice cream certificate to go out with her dad, etc. But I need some more ideas. Can anyone think of any good ideas of free/inexpensive things to put in the advent calender, or another idea to replace the book tradition for my oldest dear daughter? I'd love to hear your comments and ideas. Maybe some of you family and friends would even be willing to write an encouraging note for her to add to the stash. Hint. Hint.

2008-11-23T21:24:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful three old girl

2008-11-13T07:10:00.001-05:00

How about viewing this every day until Advent? Would it change your view of Christmas shopping?

2008-11-11T11:48:00.003-05:00

Freezer Cooking Update....what's cooking today!

My good friend Cyndy sent me this link about cooking beans in the crockpot
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/cooking-dried-beans-in-crockpot.html

I had forgotten how easy this is.....I threw two pounds of black beans in to soak yesterday morning, and put them in the crockpot and filled it up with water before I went to bed. After 8 hours on low, they were perfect. I ended up with enough to make one casserole that usually takes two cans, and two stuffed quart bags to freeze. I figured it made about the same amount as 10-12 cans, so I probably saved at least 10 dollars by doing this. My two pounds of dried beans were 2$ at Walmart.

So tonight, we are having Cinco Layer Bake, which I am putting together from three things from my freezer stash. Here are the recipes for you freezer friends!

First, make this Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling:
(makes about 14 1/2 cups)

2 Whole Chickens (8-10 pounds total weight)
3 packages cream cheese, softened
3 cups prepared mango salsa
5 one-quart freezer bags, labeled

1. Clean and cook both chickens however you want....either boil or roast them in the oven.
Cool and pull meat from bones. Discard skin and bones. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. (A whole chicken will yield about 1 cup of meat per pound.) Or if you don't want to go through all this brain damage, boil up about 6 lbs of chicken breasts, chop it up and go from there.

2. Beat together cream cheese and salsa in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Stir in chicken. Divide mixture evenly among freezer bags, about 3 scant cups of filling in each.

3. Seal and freeze.

Chipotle Roasted Tomato Sauce
7-9 pounds fresh roma tomatoes (from Costco)
6 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, halved and seeded
1 1/2 pounds onions, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoons salt
7 quart freezer bags, labeled

1. Preheat oven to 475F.
2. Rinse and slice tomatoes in half lengthwish. Arrange in a single layer on several baking dishes. Sprinkle salt over the tomatoes. Add chipotle peppers and onions to the baking dishes. Mix to combine. Drizzle oil over the vegetables. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tomatoes are beginning to brown.
3. Cool tomatoes enough to handle. Slide skins off. Remove chipotle peppers and discard.
4. Using a food processor or blender, and working in batches, spoon tomatoes and onions into processors bowl with a slotted spoon so that the juices can drain back into the dish. Puree the tomatoes and onions until smooth. Add juices from the baking dish if sauce is too thick. Discard remaining juice.
5. Divide sauce among freezer bags.
6. Seal and freeze.

Note: This sauce is excellent on Cheese Ravioli and other pasta dishes. It is a good way to use up those end of the season tomatoes in the garden. Don't feel like you HAVE to have this to make the Cinco Layer Bake...you can use canned enchilada or tomato sauce if you like.

You can use your Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling in these two recipes, or in other creative ways.

Cinco Layer Bake
6 ten inch flour tortillas, cut in half
2 3/4 cups Sweet Chicken Tostada Filling, thawed
1 1/2 cups black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Roasted Chipotle Tomato Sauce or other enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Lightly coat the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Cover the bottom entirely with 4 of the tortilla halves, overlapping as necessary. Spread 1 1/2 cups of the tostada filling over tortillas. Next, layer with 3/4 cup of the beans, 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, and 1 cup of the cheese. Repeat with a layer of tortillas and the remaining filling, beans, and tomato sauce. Add the remaining 4 tortilla halves and top with one cup cheese.
3. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 165f.
4. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, guacamole, or salsa, if desired.

Happy cooking!

2008-11-10T08:06:00.003-05:00

Samuel's 6th Birthday!

It was quite a humorous day for me.....think "Jon and Kate Plus 8", but it was "Lesli Plus 8" without Kate's organizational skills. It all started several months ago, when my friend called to ask me to watch some of her children while she visited a little boy they are adopting in Guatemala. I was very happy to do this, as I love all her kids like my own. They all play very nicely with my kids and are very well behaved. So I thought that since it was Samuel's birthday, and we'd already have some kids over, well, what's a few more? Did I mention that between my children, and my friend's children, three of the eight were two and under? In one of those flashes of brilliance that I have, that usually don't turn out as pictured, I invited about 10 little boys over to have a Star Wars party. A further flash of brillance involved allowing them all to make light sabers out of pipe insulation, and battle it out. This would all have been well and good had it not been for two things. The first being that my husband works for a living and was unable to make it home in time for the party because something urgent came up that he had to take care of. The second thing was the sudden rainstorm. The second thing was worse. Now the light saber fights were taking place in the family room. The big fat cupcakes I fed them were consumed, well, everywhere. The games I had planned were all outside games, so we had a very unstructured party where Jedis, Clones, and Siths ran amok and staged epic battles in my home. I think they had a ball. I think I missed the mental hospital by a hair, but only because Marianna came over early to talk me off the cliff (and clean). Thankfully, the storm broke just in time to take the pinata outside. They had fun busting Darth Vader's head open, and consuming the mass quantities of left-over Halloween candy that was stashed inside. In the end, no one got hurt, and nothing was broken. And Sam turned six. That would be 27 children's birthday parties under my belt. Unbelievable.

2008-11-02T12:25:00.003-05:00

Brendan trying to comfort himself with food after the Dawg loss.
Nathan and Dan jousting.

Water balloon, anyone?

The Fair Elise ready to joust!

Theo was the jousting champ!

Anna, Sarah, and Leah

The lovely princesses

The knights with Richard the Lionhearted

Marianna's terrific Dragon cake.

More Medieval Pictures....Thanks Marianna!

2008-11-02T09:01:00.006-05:00

Rebecca showing off her weaving from our study on Marco Polo. We used this great book. http://www.amazon.com/Marco-Polo-Kids-Marvelous-Activities/dp/1556523777/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225635327&sr=8-1

The King Family Castle.....Elizabeth designed this castle based on the castle in this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Castle-David-Macaulay/dp/0395329205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225635441&sr=1-1

The kids watched the David McCauley castle video at our Unit Celebration.

Johnathon's version of illuminated letters. Very cool. And he was kind enough to lend us the Toby Mac concert DVD to watch, which makes him our favorite Jesus Freak.

Emily's water lapbook....she did such a nice job!

Joshua's display board must have taken so many hours! His artwork was stunning and his writing was well-crafted and interesting. I can't wait to see what he does on the Renaissance!

The Millers enjoying the feast!

The Knights feasting!

Tammy and Elizabeth loading up at Medieval buffet. I forget, did they have Wheat Thins and Sweet Tea back then?

Feasting kiddos

The Knights do battle! I love Theo's milk carton knight helmet!

Notice the TV screen.....they were undoubtably discussing the beating the Dawgs took at the hand of those slimy Gators. That was the only dismal thing about the evening.

Lilly Grace as a medieval princess. I ran to Target the morning after Halloween and took advantage of the deep discount on knight and princess costumes. What excellent timing!

The Black Knight.........Luke in a rare costume appearance.

We had a great time at our Unit Celebration. The kids had fun showing off their hard work, and all the grown-ups had fun eating! Our jousting with pool noodles would have worked better if we could have got the water balloons to burst, but they had fun pretending the ballons were diseased animals they were lobbing over the castle walls, so all was not lost!

We had a really busy week, and have two birthdays coming up. I really did not want to go to the effort of doing the Unit Celebration. My new friend Jenny convinced me that it didn't have to be a big deal, and that we could all pitch in. She was right. It was easy, with mostly store bought food. The kids had a great time, and feel like the unit came to close on a good note. They really do look forward to showing their work, and it makes them put more effort into things if they know that other people will get to see it. I was happy to walk outside and hear the kids playing a made up game of Medieval Jeopardy. Listening to their questions and answers made me feel like they really WERE listening! Yay! Job well done, Jenny, Marianna, Vicki, and Tammy! Your kids clearly learned a lot in the last 10 weeks.

2008-11-02T08:54:00.002-05:00

Commander Cody....dressed as a pile of laundry
Lillie Pie and Anna as Cinderella and the Ballerina

Commander Cody (the boy) and Nathan the Crusader (without his costume)

Rebecca as Padme, and Luke as Darth Vader

2008-10-31T09:50:00.002-04:00

The Little Pie is having a crying fit. Apparently when I offered her some Special K, she thought I said "Special Cake". I know, honey. I'd rather have cake too.

2008-10-31T07:09:00.004-04:00

Here Ye, Here Ye, All herald the completion of Rebecca's first lapbook!

Rebecca did a great job on her report on Marco Polo. Next to the report is a list of all the books she read during this unit.

Notice the very cool Coat of Arms that Rebecca designed out of this book
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Your-Own-Coat-Arms/dp/048624993X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225452837&sr=8-1

I just have to pat myself on the back today. This is the first time in my homeschooling career that we have made it through an entire quarter on schedule. No sick days, no putting off assignments in favor of things that are more fun, no big house projects that de-rail school. Today is the last day of Unit 1, Year 2 of Tapestry of Grace. We had a great time with all the books. I have to say that I wasn't too excited about doing this Unit, the Middle Ages just are not my favorite time period to study. Tapestry made it so interesting and fun that I found myself learning a ton, right along with the kids.

The major highlight of this unit was watching Rebecca complete her lapbook. This was a 10 week project, completed bit by bit. It's hard for a kid to stick with a project that long, but she did it, and I absolutely love it. I told her that it's going in the "What to Grab In Case There is A Fire" box. If you haven't done a lapbook with your kids before, I highly encourage you to try. There are many available on a number of topics that you can just print out. The more creative among you might want to look into Diana Zike's materials. I also love the things that come from Hands of A Child. This particular lapbook was published on a CD from Tapestry, and all we had to do was print them out, cut out the little books, and paste them in. Every week there are directions on what to do. Rebecca wrote so much, of her accord! I am very proud of all she accomplished. I don't think I've ever completed a 10 week project on time in my life!

We plan on celebrating the end of our study on the Middle Ages with a Medieval Feast at our house tomorrow night. We plan on having a potluck buffet of easy medieval food, mostly found at http://www.gingergarrett.com/downloads/EveningTudors.pdf . We rented David McCauley's Castle video from Netflix to show, and will have a jousting match. Each Dad will carry their youngest child on their back. The child will have a pool noodle lance, with a water balloon attached to the end. The first one to break their ballon wins the match. It should be a hoot.

2008-10-31T07:02:00.002-04:00

Check out the big long stem on the Mona Lisa. This is our pumpkin from Burt's Farm.

2008-10-31T06:56:00.002-04:00

My husband has carved the Mona Lisa of Pumpkins! Way to Go, Mr. B!

Stay tuned for the kids versions later today.

2008-10-30T12:06:00.003-04:00

Lilly had great fun at Burt's!
All the kids played in the creek for hours. They didn't seem to mind that it was 40 degrees out.

Theo and Sam. Enough said.

Sugar Baby picking a Sugar Pumpkin

2008-10-30T12:02:00.002-04:00

Meet the newest Richards....Commander Cody. He is Sam's 6th birthday present. He is six weeks old. We are having so much fun with him. Even Brendan wants his share of kitty love every day.

2008-10-22T06:32:00.004-04:00

Pumpkin Farm time is arriving soon!

Schooling Update:

We are nearing the end of the first quarter of school! It has been such a great experience this time, I think because I have become more comfortable with the Tapestry of Grace curriculum. I really learn more about teaching every day, through the Teacher's Notes, and the Yahoo forums. Tapestry is probably one of the more overwhelming curriculum choices to begin, but once you get your bearings, it is so natural to teach. Here is a little summary of what we have been working on.

Rebecca:

She has been working on the most gorgeous lapbook. A lapbook is essentially four file folders glued together, and filled with all kinds of mini books and graphic organizers to help her record all she learns. I am so excited to see the finished product next week. Rebecca is really detail oriented and artsy, so she just loves it. Luke would rather stick needles in his eyes than do this type of project! It was very easy to do, as it all the little books came on a CD. We printed them out on parchment, so they look "medieval". It is just another great product from Tapestry of Grace!

She is also working on a report about her ancestor, Marco Polo. My maiden name is Depolo, which means "of Polo". My great-grandfather migrated from Kortula, the small island on the Adriatic, where Marco Polo was born. My grandparents were even able to visit the Polo home and were given a warm welcome as family. It has been extra exciting for the kids to study someone they can claim relation to. This is Rebecca's first long "sixth grade" report, but she has overcome her initial fear and trepidation and is working away!

All our basics (math, english, etc.) are going well and are on target. We are using some new curriculum there, so it will be interesting to see how we test this year.

Luke: I have spend this first nine weeks with Luke getting him really disciplined about his basics. He is working on Horizons phonics, Math, Penmanship, and Spelling. He has been reading Robinson Caruso (children's version) this year and recently noticed that he's read over 150 pages of his 300 page book. This would have seemed impossible at the beginning of the year, and it's cool to see him see that "drop by drop, the bucket is full". Luke is starting to branch out a little and want to do some of the stuff his sister is doing. He actually made a mythical map the other day, which in Autism Land is huge, because anything involving the imagination is really difficult and usually met with much grumbling and complaining. He is even considering wearing a costume for our Medieval Celebration in a few weeks. He wants to be Sir Cumference from this book http://http//www.amazon.com/Sir-Cumference-First-Round-Table/dp/1570911606/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224672747&sr=8-1

- a math adventure he really loves.

Sam: Poor Sam. He's always been the easy, self-sufficient child. He plays easily through the day, gets his own food, plays with the cats, and generally has such a great disposition and attitude that I don't need to give him much direction, time wise. Well, kindergarten has been a rude awakening for him. He says school is "just sitting at a stupid desk" through his tears. I had to laugh when I thought of what he'd think of real school. It has taken quite a bit of doing to find his motivator. This week he is working toward obtaining a small Star Wars Lego set. If all goes well, he will earn it by Friday, in time for Clone Wars! He especially enjoyed showing his reading skills off to his daddy last night, so hopefully we have turned a corner! I attribute my better week to the wonderful women in my homeschool group that have been praying for Sam and myself! Thank you!

Lilly: She is having so much fun discovering Rebecca's old toys that I have saved. She loves the dress up clothes, barbies, and dollhouse. I am so thankful that SOMEONE is playing with the dollhouse. I bought it for Rebecca, well, actually myself, and out of four kids, Lilly is the first to show any interest, and creates elaborate stories for the family that lives in it. Yesterday the dollies all went to the zoo in Grandma's car, for example. She likes to do her "school" which consists of Walgreens preschool books that she just circles random objects in. We are using some Horizons preschool with her, but frankly, I've spent so much time working on Samuel that Lilly has not got her full dose of school. Thankfully, she's only two, so that's okay!

We are going on a field trip this week to Burt's Farm....we go every year, and everyone is very excited! This year we are going with our homeschool group of about 40! We will pick pumpkins and take a tour, and finish up with a hayride. Then we will go hike up to Amicolola Falls. We are going to make Halloween cupcakes today, and the kids are looking forward to sharing them with their friends at the pumpkin patch!

2008-10-22T06:29:00.001-04:00

The little Lilly Pie has officially spent three nights in a big girl bed. I guess she decided it was more comfortable than her highchair.

2008-10-17T12:50:00.002-04:00

Your finished Product

Lettuce Wraps Part 2

Okay...now we have all our chopping done. Time to cook up our chicken!

Heat a large skillet over high heat, and add 3 tablespoons oil. I am using vegetable oil. You could use olive as well. Stirfry chicken over high heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan. Cook a second batch of chicken the same way. Remove from pan and place in large bowl. Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, and stir-fry 2 batches of garlic, ginger, and green onions in the pan for 1 minute. Add 2 batches of mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots to the pan. Stir fry for 3 minutes. Turn off heat, and mix up cooking sauce. Return chicken to pan with vegetables and add 1/2 of the cooking sauce. Cook until thickened and hot. Remove from pan and place in large bowl.

Do the same thing with the remaining two batches. I have found that the chicken waters up if you cook too much in the same pan, so the chicken is divided into four batches, but the vegetables only into two. Is that clear as mud? Right now, mine is cooking in a large metal bowl. After it cools for a while, I will bag it up into quart size freezer bags, with 3-4 cups per bag. I am also going to try to flash freeze some in muffin tins for some easy high protein snacks for the kids.

2008-10-17T10:59:00.005-04:00

This is my latest project.....I have been working on my pantry to 1) rid it of the pantry moths that have plagued me since I moved here and 2) to make it more organized. The top photo is ours.

I love the chalkboard paint to organize where everything goes. This way, if Celeste sneaks in to clean my house again she'll know where to put things! Lucky me to have such a sweet friend.

We removed the wire shelving and painted the inside green (free paint - was here when we moved in!) and Mr. B made nice wood shelves for it. He painted them a high gloss white, and the edge with chalkboard paint. I love how I can label them now. I went to the Container Store and found glass jars for the dry goods to keep the moths away. It looks so nice and neat now! I love it! Thanks Mr. B! We have the cool little wire things to attach to the door..hopefully this weekend.

2008-10-17T10:57:00.001-04:00

Rebecca wants to know if anyone has a cheap Toby Mac tickets.

2008-10-17T10:06:00.006-04:00

I am breaking my blogging fast with a big bloggy cook-a-long today! I'm just going to pretend you are in my kitchen.....I'll be cooking and filling you in on the last few months at the same time.

In honor of our study of Marco Polo and his trip through China, we will be eating chinese food tonight! We will be making a big batch of lettuce wraps from a copycat recipe! P.F. Changs, anyone? These really taste like the real thing without the budget hit! Please don't let all the prep work put you off this recipe...it makes a ton and is really worth the work. It is a great appetizer to have on hand in the freezer during the holidays, an awesome picnic lunch to take when you go on a fall leaf hunt, and a very easy weeknight dinner that children usually love.

You can find the single batch recipe here:

http://www.recipelink.com/mf/14/8937

I am making a really big batch, so that I can freeze it in dinner size portions. Here is my re-sized recipe.

Chicken Mixture:

3 cups dried Shitake mushrooms

4 teaspoons cornstarch

8 teaspoons dry sherry

4 teaspoons water

4 teaspoons soy sauce

salt and pepper

5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup oil

4 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

8 green onions, minced

4 8-oz cans bamboo shoots, minced

4 8-oz cans water chestnuts, minced

1 pk cellophone chinese rice noodles, prepared according to instructions (I've never used this...if you do, let me know how it goes!)

Cooking Sauce:

4 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons dry sherry

8 tablespoons oyster sauce

8 tablespoons water

4 teaspoons sesame oil

4 teaspoons sugar

8 teaspoons cornstarch

I will be making a few changes along the way to accomodate our tastes and what we have in the house. I will be preparing all ingredients first, then cooking it in several batches, because I don't have a big wok, only a meager 10 inch skillet.

The first thing I'm going to do is start soaking my mushrooms in boiling water. I buy a big bag of dried Shitake mushrooms at Costco. They last forever and are great for stir-frys and WONDERFUL for adding to your roasts in the crockpot. They add a rich smoky flavor to just about any dish. I filled my large saucepan 3/4 of the way with water and brought it to a boil. Then I added 4 cups of the dried mushrooms. I will let them sit for about 30 minutes while I post about the last bunch of photos I just downloaded.

Note: I can't figure out how to get my photos to download in the correct order....so you'll just have bear with me.

Take a look at the photo of the chicken chunks. Cut your chicken up about that size. Then, a few handfuls at a time, mince it by pulsing on and off in the food processor until it looks like the other photo. Put your chicken in a bowl. Mix together cornstarch, sherry (I'm using white wine, because it's what I have) water, soy sauce, and salt and pepper. Stir it into your minced chicken and let it marinate while we do the rest of our prep work.

Next, drain your mushrooms and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your water chestnuts, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your bamboo shoots, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 piles, if you are making a big batch.

Mince your ginger. I don't do this in the food processor. It does not work as well.
http://www.cookthink.com/reference/594/How_to_mince_ginger Here is a great tutorial if you don't know how to do that. I added some extra ginger, because we love it. Set it on a plate, divided into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

Slice up your green onions. Set them on a plate and divide them into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

That completes our prep work! Your hard work should look like the photo at the top my next post. I'm going to finish this cook-off in several posts, in order to make the photos and instructions line up.

2008-08-29T17:49:00.002-04:00

COUNT DOWN TO DISNEY!

Samuel was very excited to discover that his new Monster Truck swim trunks came with both a nose plug and ear plugs. He does not want to take them off and put them in his suitcase. He is begging me to break the Fulton County Water Restrictions and fill the baby pool so he can try them out. But, alas, he will have to wait until we go here.................

2008-08-29T17:44:00.002-04:00

Waffle making in the Richards house! We quadrupled this recipe

http://www.recipezaar.com/109880

for Bella's Whole Wheat Waffles!

Freezer is now full of lots of yummy belgian waffles. Thanks kids!

2008-08-21T10:44:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

Rebecca turned 11 yesterday, and we were so busy having fun, I didn't get to post. We started our day with the traditional Richard's family birthday breakfast. We always decorate the windows of our breakfast room with chalk markers to celebrate the birthday person. We made cinnamon rolls, bacon, eggs, and strawberries for breakfast. Rebecca was eagerly anticipating the possibility of receiving a fancy curling iron that she wanted, and she wasn't dissapointed. Fully ringleted out, we spent the day trying on all the clothes that Nya-Nya sent her, with the occasional bit of schoolwork. At dinner time, Rebecca and I headed over to the pottery painting place and each painted a piece. We ate dinner at a sushi place, and Rebecca ate her first bite of sushi...she said she liked it, but only ate one, so perhaps she was just being polite! We did our history discussion at the restaurant...our first in our planned "girls nights out" for history discussions.

Rebecca is growing into such a neat young woman. We are amazed at the great job God does at covering over our parenting mistakes! She is a hard worker and very helpful with her siblings. She rarely complains about having to help, but looks for things to do to lighten my load. She is just plain fun to live with, and I am so thankful that, 11 years ago, God chose me to be her mom!

2008-08-21T09:33:00.006-04:00

We are having a big week! First of all, we started school on Monday. This year we are using Tapestry of Grace Year 2 - This covers from the Fall of Rome. through the Revolutionary War. Here is a run down on what we are using this year:

Bible: Catherine Voss Children's Bible, Calvary Bible Sheets http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm

Hymns for a Child's Heart (one per week)

Math: Sam and Luke - Horizons Rebecca - Teaching Textbooks, Calculadder and Flashmaster for all

Science: Apologia Astronomy (fall) and Apologia Botany (spring) and lapbooks from Knowledge Box, assorted experiments from Steve Spangler's science web pages

Literature, Writing, Geography, History, Church History, and Government - Tapestry of Grace

Phonics: Horizons and lapbook from Hands of a Child

Preschool: Horizons and Interlock preschool from Alpha Omega

Our first few days have gone well, with even the littles getting into our Medieval theme....we've hauled out the playmobile castle and added a few Toobs of knights, dragons and woodland animals. I LOVE those things! We used them last year for Egypt and Sam spent hours imagining with them. They really loved making the shirts off this website for a science project

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000032 and have been working on them for several days as I read aloud from The Famous Men of the Middle Ages. This week we were talking about the barbarians who contributed to the fall of Rome. Luke surprises me sometimes, for a boy of so few words. I asked him if he knew what "pillage" meant. He thought for a moment and said "happily destroy?" I never would have thought he knew that word! He is doing very well with his reading and work.....I anticipated this week being a bit of a battle, but he is really adjusting to his new work level well.

Lilly has enjoyed our first week as well, although she almost immediately demanded her own stuff...."where's MY schoolwork, mommy?" I tried printing some stuff off the web for her to color and do, but she was quite dismayed that it wasn't in a colorful workbook like the boys have for their phonics. She keeps trying to highjack the older kids stuff and attack it with her markers. I found a few colorful preschool workbooks at Walgreens today, so we will see how that goes. She is enjoying playing castle and dragons with Samuel. She is such an easy and pleasant child to have around.

Yesterday Brendan worked from home in our kitchen, while he tried to solve some problems with his hook-up to his office. It was so nice having him here during our school day. It was so peaceful and relaxed (most times) and I was glad to have him see how well the kids work during the day. He usually gets home at the craziest of times when everyone is tired and cranky, and I think he thinks it's like that all day, because he always seems very sympathetic!

I am looking forward to making our salt maps to familiarize the kids with geographical terms...they get to make maps of imaginary places with bays, rivers, buttes, etc. We will work on those tomorrow. All in all, we are on schedule for the first week! Yay!

2008-08-16T08:10:00.003-04:00

This came across my autism loop today, and I thought I'd post it for my bloggy friends. It was what I needed to hear today.....a recitiation of what I DO....not what I didn't get done (which I find myself dwelling on sometimes!)

I am.

I am the little engine that did. When on my journey in life, my tracks ledme to a mountain - a diagnosis of Autism - I looked at it with defeat -thinking there was no way I could climb over it. I then pondered theobstacle before me, and I then said to myself over and over, "I think I can,I think I can...," then I slowly started climbing the mountain saying tomyself over and over, "I know I can, I know I can,...." and then I made itover that ominous diagnosis and continued my journey. I am the little engine that did.

I am more devoted than Noah's wife. I sometimes feel overwhelmed in my"houseboat" -- 365 days and 365 nights a year, constantly working with and teaching my child. But when the storms of isolation and monotony become most unbearable, I do not jump ship. Instead I wait for the rainbow that is promised to come.

I am Xena. Real life warrior goddess of Autism. With my steel plated armor I can battle anyone who gets in the way of progress for my child. I can overcome the stares and ignorance of those without a disability in theirlives - and educate them as to why my child is the way he is, and why hedoes the things he does. With my sword of persistence, I can battle the schools to have them properly educate my child. Yes, I am Xena - and I am prepared for any battle that might come my way......

I am beautiful. I have hairy legs because I get no time alone in the bathroom, and bags under my eyes from staying up all night with my child.The only exercise I get is the sprint from my house to my car - to take my child to therapy. Dressed up to me is, well - just that I had a moment to get dressed! They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and so even on the days when I don't feel very beautiful - I will know that I am........ because God is my beholder.

I am the Bionic Woman. With my bionic vision - I can see through the disability my child has, and see the beauty in his soul, the intelligence inhis eyes --- when others can't. I have bionic hearing - I can look at my child when he smiles at me, and hear his voice say, "I Love You Mommy," ---even though he can't talk. Yes, I am thankful to be Bionic.

I am Mary. A not so well known mother of a Special Needs child who was brought here to touch the souls of those around him, in a way that will forever change them. And it started with me. By teaching me things I wouldnever have known, by bringing me friendships I never would have had, and by opening my eyes as to what really matters in life. Things like the Joy of just living in the moment, the Peace of knowing that God is in control, never losing Hope, and knowing an unconditional Love that words cannot express. Yes, I too am blessed by a special child, just like Mary.

I am Superwoman. I am able to leap over tall loads of laundry in a singlebound, and run faster than a speeding bullet, to rescue my child from danger. Oh yes, without a doubt, I am Superwoman.

I am Moses. I was chosen to be the mother of a Special Needs Child. I may attimes question whether I am the right "man" for the job ---but God will give me the Faith I need to lead my child to be the best he can be. And like Moses, God will give me the small Miracles here and there, needed to accomplish my mission.

I am Stretch Armstrong - a mom that can be stretched beyond belief - and still somehow return to normal. I can stretch limited funds to cover every treatment and therapy that insurance won't. I can stretch my patience as I bounce from doctor to doctor in a quest to treat my child. I can stretch what time I have, and share it with my husband, my children, my church, and still have some leftover to help my friends. Yes, my name is Stretch. And Ihave the stretch-marks to prove it!

I am Rosa Parks. I refuse to move or waiver in what I believe is right for my child --simply because my view is the minority, not the majority. I refuse to believe "What can one mother do?" But instead, I will write, call,and rally to the government if I have to, and do whatever it takes to prevent discrimination against my child and ensure that he gets the services he needs.

I am Hercules. The Greek god known for strength and courage. The heavy loads I must carry would make others crumble to the ground. The weight of Sorrow, Fear at uncertainty of the future, Injustice at having no answers, and the Tears of despair, would alone possibly be too much, --- even for Hercules.But then the Joy, Laughter, Smiles, and Pride, - at my child's accomplishments, - balance the load to make it easy to bear.

I am touched by an Angel. An Angel who lives in a world of his own. And it'strue. He lives in a world of innocence and purity. A world without hatred or deceit. A world where everyone is beautiful and where no-one is ugly. A world where there is always enough time. A world where he goes to bed with no worries of tomorrow and wakes up with no regrets of the past. Yes, I most certainly am touched by an Angel, and in some ways, his world is better....

I am a true "Survivor" - the mom of a child, who has faced, is facing, and will face, --some of the most difficult challenges life has to offer. I am ready for the challenge and have God given endurance to last until the end,-- along with a sense of humor to cope with all the twists, turns, and surprises along the way. Oh yes, I am a TRUE "Survivor" - and I don't need to win a million dollars to prove it!!! I am a mom of a special needs child, all the above, and so much more. Somedays I will want to be none of the above - and just be a typical mom with a typical child, doing typical things. On those days I will know it's okay tobe angry, and to cry, and to lean on my family, friends, and church, forsupport. Because after all, ---the most important thing I am..... is human.

- author unknown.

2008-08-14T12:45:00.001-04:00

2008-08-14T12:02:00.003-04:00

It has been so busy behind the Kudzu curtain!

This past month has been crazy.....I've had two catering jobs, a speaking engagement at the homeschool convention, out-of-town guests, an apron swap, and school to get together. I am slowly but surely making progress on the school part! Today's accomplishment was getting our calender together with the new chores for the school year.

On Tuesday, we had our first meeting of our new homeschool group, T.W.I.S.T., which stands for Training Wisely in Service and Truth. It is a service based organization to provide support for moms and homeschooled kids and also to get the kids involved in service projects in the community. We had 18 moms for our first meeting! Old Schoolhouse Magazine donated some wonderful goodie bags for all the moms. It was a great time, with lots of good food! The Richards Family has appreciated eating the leftovers the past two days. We are looking forward to all the upcoming fun times we have planned.

We have two birthdays and our anniversary in the next two weeks! Then we are going on a great trip to Disneyworld with Nana and Papa Richards. None of us have been before (except for Daddy) so we are really excited. The kids have been working on a paper chain which is on the top of our calender....it's getting shorter!

I've also posted a picture of my apron that I made for the apron swap. It came out so cute!

One of Luke's chores is to be the "Snack Factory" on Thursdays. He chooses three snacks to make in bulk for the week. Today it was soft pretzels, banana bread and smoothie popcicles. He also froze some leftover Coke from the party in some penguin ice cube trays for a special treat! Lilly was having fun helping in her new apron from Nya-Nya.

2008-06-21T07:49:00.003-04:00

Rebecca and Smokey in the schoolroom mess
I am sitting here with my coffee and a very long "to-do" list. It's that time of year again. Time to evaluate what worked and what didn't in the home and school room and get moving on fixing it. I think that by the time I graduate Lilly, I'll have a good system down. (smirk)

This past year Brendan built desks for all the kids in the schoolroom. This was a blazing failure. Even shotgun headphones did not keep Luke's bionic ears from being offended by someone else's pencil on paper. Those of you who know Sam, well, you know he makes constant strange noises. He's the Bobby McFerrin of the schoolroom. Happy and funny, but well, annoying. Rebecca gets distracted by Luke yelling at Sam to be quiet and it all just falls apart. By the end of the year, kids were taking their work to opposite ends of the house and I had a headache.

I highjacked Mechelle's idea of putting different subjects in bins on the shelf with all supplies, but I decided to make a basket for each of the following time periods:

8:00-10:30 Contents: Bible materials, Handwriting, Vocabulary, Grammer, Writing

10:45-12:00 Contents: Math books, supplies and manipulatives, Literature

1:00-2:30 Contents: Latin, Spelling, Writing or anything that Mom needs to help with

2:30-3:30 Contents: History Reading and Notebooking pages/Colored Pencils/Hands-on

Each child will take their basket to their favorite schooling spot. It could be the tree house, the trampoline, the front porch, their room, etc. At the end of the time period, they return the basket to me and grab the next one. Each child would spend part of one time period doing stuff with me.

I tried this this week with one student and it has worked well. I like the fact that I can't see the books and papers lying out in the schoolroom. I can attack one basket at a time to grade, and it's not overwhelming. I think this will also keep things from getting lost, because I will be checking the baskets everyday. (I just re-read this and laughed.....I rarely do ANYTHING the same way everyday....that's boring.....but I'm really going to try)

On top of my basket system, I am revamping my filing system. Right now I have a file box for each child with 36 weekly folders in each. I put their work in at the beginning of the year. I keep them on the bottom shelf of my schoolroom bookshelves. I am trying to find two drawer filing cabinets to paint and put a desk top on....this way I can sit at my desk and easily grade and file papers into the right child's bin, rather than sit on the floor and do it. Right now, the papers are piling up, because they are not easy to file.

In place of the desks, Brendan has built me a square table with benches that seat 8 children. (We often have extras) I am going to paint a chess board in the middle of it for Luke. This will be better for Sam and Lilly to have a more appropriately sized place to do their work or play.

So today, I will beging my annual ritual of removing every item from the school room and scrubbing and polishing the floors. I am going to paint the room a peaceful robin's egg blue instead of the current chaos inducing red. Brendan is going to build me another shelf set for the baskets.

So, everyone please hold me accountable to post a picture of what I got done today. I am tempted to laze the day away at the pool, but I've GOT to get moving! SCHOOL starts in a little over a month!

2008-06-20T13:50:00.001-04:00

You are invited to an Usborne Books eShow to explore the world of Usborne Books.

A child's interest in reading and learning is stimulated by the lavish illustrations and informative content. There are over 1300 bright, colorful and fun titles covering activities, puzzles and a wide range of subjects for children of all ages.Usborne Books - the books kids love to read!Hosted by: Lesli RichardsPlace: www.ubah.com/HOS115770When: Today thru 6/23/2008 11:59:00 PM

Help our homeschool earn a discount off our schoolbooks by buying great books for your kids!

2008-06-20T11:04:00.002-04:00

I just sent in my email to participate in a fall Apron swap.....anyone want to join me?

http://boomingaprons.blogspot.com/

I am eagerly looking forward to visiting a new quilt shop in the area to scope out fabric for my apron to send.

2008-06-20T10:39:00.003-04:00

Great Project for studying the Romans!

http://www.orbfactory.com/SMBMA.asp

We found the Classic mosaic kit at Tuesday Morning for 9.99. It came with six beautiful mosaics to make. I was surprised at the quality of this art kit....it was easy, mess-free, educational, and has kept them busy on and off for two days now. The mosaics are copies of actual Roman mosaics. To my surprise, even Ping Pong Boy wanted to sit down and do one...I did not anticipate him being interested. But he made two, and is on his third! Luke finished him this morning, and I think it was really good fine-motor exercise for him. They have a Celtic designs one that I'm going to try to find for next year.

2008-06-20T10:12:00.003-04:00

The past few days have been much better with Luke. I know people have been praying for us, and I am very grateful and humbled by your kind comments and prayers. People have contacted us with some wonderful resources to use, and I even found a wonderful meeting to go to for homeschool moms with kids like Luke, thanks to my sweet friend Rachel.

We have begun a new devotional at our house. It is called Sword Fighting by Karyn Henly.

You can see her website at http://www.karynhenley.com/site_pages/Bibleprod_new.htm#anch_SF . We use her Day by Day Kids Bible for devotions, and Rebecca did the Sword Fighting Devotional last year. I decided that Luke might like it, and that it might help him to have some biblical means to fight off some of his sensory issues and maintain self-control even when it is hard. So we sat on the couch this week and learned Psalm 119:11 "For I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you." The first day we cut a sword out of a cardboard box and spray painted it silver in Daddy's shop. We wrote the verse on the sword. Luke said he would like to hang it in his room. All week we have talked about temptation and sin, and how to overcome it. This morning, we waited until everyone was good and hungry, and then Luke made biscuits. Sam made the honey butter. We talked while we were baking about how hungry Jesus must have been in the desert, and how he really must have been tempted to turn those rocks into bread. Later today we will make a big domino maze and talk about how sin is like the first domino....if you are sinning, it usually effects others and not just you, just like the first domino falling. I can see that these visual devotions are helping Luke understand more about himself and God. He looked ahead to next week, which happens to be on self-control and said "Oh, good! I really need that one!"

I would highly recommend this book, and the others on Karen's website.

2008-06-18T06:36:00.002-04:00

Living in "A-ville"

I haven't been blogging in a few weeks....the water has been a little rough around here for our boy Luke. Luke is 8 years old, with high-functioning autism. He seems to be going through a bit of a regression, and it's been a tough couple weeks for him. I believe it started when we sent him to Fine Arts Camp, a VBS at a local church. He has enjoyed it in previous years, but this year the music was REALLY loud and it was very overstimulating for him. He had several incidents of running away and hiding. He also had a few altercations with other kids, from what I can piece together with his limited narrative. He is crying over everything (and he isn't a big crier) and over-reacting to the slightest perceived offense. According to him I "hate" him and am treating him "like an old shoe" and am "mean" when I ask him to do the simplest of tasks. I am trying oh so hard to maintain patience and order around here until he levels out again. I have contacted several autism experts to see what is in order for him, so we will see if I hear from them today with some advice.

Now that he is getting older, the conversations and play are getting more complex, and he's having a harder time fitting in. Taking him to the pool and having him interact with typical kids is heartbreaking. He doesn't understand most of the unspoken rules of kids play, but wants to play so badly....he's like an over-eager puppy constantly breaking the rules of "cool". Mr. B and I had a hard time watching the other kids roll their eyes at each other mockingly.

It feels like we are being swept up in the autism storm once again. I haven't felt this way since he was 2 and first diagnosed. But then, we had lots of professionals surrounding us and telling us how to handle him. Now we don't have so many.....our pediatrician knows nothing about autism....he's past the therapy stage, so we don't have them. But............

I have the God who knit him together in my womb, the God who knows the number of the hairs on his head, the God who has Luke's name on the palm of His hand. He will see us through this storm with all comfort. He is not surprised by any of this. He will give us everything we need to care for Luke. Of this, I am most confident. And it is with Him I sit this morning, waiting for my broken boy to awake. I gather up my strength from His presence. I soak in the love of my God so that I can cover my boy in it like a blanket. I hear the boys footsteps on the stairs. And so the day begins.

2008-06-02T07:04:00.002-04:00

These are some photos from our trip to the Botanical Gardens last week.....I'm a little late blogging. For you non-Georgia readers, school here ends in May, so it is the most hectic month of the year...lots of end of the year parties and loose ends to wrap up! So the blogging has been a little light. Here is our Lilly Pie using her field journal to make some flowers.
These are Lilly Pie's best buddies: Isabella and Caroline
My first born who looks just too grown up!
Luke loved the motion sculptures at the garden....I have a feeling he will be inspired to make a few for our garden at home. He especially liked this one, because he is 8.
This was our group that went. Thanks Krista, once again, for organizing such a great trip. It was one of my favorites and the kids are begging for a membership so we can go back often. It really was beautiful, and it was fun to see the absolute delight on my kids faces as they were exposed to the creativity of God just in the world of flowers.

I'll blog more later on our hilarious trip to the zoo.

2008-05-27T17:53:00.002-04:00

Today's quilt square

2008-05-25T08:30:00.006-04:00

Not sure why we are wearing our Greek chiton to use power tools, but okay.........it works.
Pickle jars make great free thread holders!

No more cat box....It's moving to more "pet appropriate" quarters...like the garage.
We are going to paint the chairs black and cover them with more free fabric from Mrs. Roach!

My 5$ linen press all gussied up. And, yes, I know I still need to vacuum. Our cutting table with all the storage underneath hidden. Somebody better start having some babies, because there is LOTS of baby fabric under there!
Rebecca and I's quilting stash, neatly organized!
Rebecca's first project in our new room...cut out at 11pm last night!

AFTER: the great landing makeover

This involved free fabric courtesy of a good friends leftovers to make skirts for the tables dear husband put together from scraps. I went crazy with the lime green paint and made it really fun by adding furry lime green trim to our skirts. We now have a design wall (already loaded with a project courtesy of my dear daughter), a cutting table, two workable machines, all our fabric folded uniformly, and our supplies close at hand. The only thing left to do is put peg board over our cutting table with all our cutting implements and quilting rulers.

Yay! We did it! And for 5$

What can you make over? On your mark, get set, go!

2008-05-25T08:19:00.004-04:00

BEFORE: the great landing make-over

Rebecca and I have been quilting so much that we have taken over the dining room table in a very scary way. (It's scary to leave pins and rotary cutters lying about with babies in the house!) Plus, we can't eat there, so that's an issue. Last week we decided to make over our upstairs landing into a little sewing nook for ourselves. It started with my 5$ purchase of the linen press in these pictures and some "free" paint that has been in our basement for about five years.

Note the undesirable qualities: the cat box, the spilled coffee on carpet that won't come up, courtesy of one small child who poured said cup of coffee into now-non-working laptop (also an undesirable quality) and onto the carpet, kiddie kitchen where real food loves to migrate and make messes and an unknown pile of stuff that has been "needing to go downstairs" for months. Also undesirable are the books on the shelves that were kicked out of the basement shelves for school books.... these need to go into the booksheves dear husband is building in our bedroom, to house the books that he and I read on a regular basis. But, that's another make-over.

2008-05-16T19:42:00.002-04:00

Why I Must...............

I've been thinking for sometime about my blog addiction......it's two blogs specifically that have me going to the computer in the early hours of the morning and last thing before bed at night. Two blogs that are worlds apart, yet identical.....two sides of the same coin, two stories that reflect the same God, yet have different endings. Two families that have come to two different forks in the road, yet come to the exact same conclusion of who God is. One family I know well, one I'll probably never meet this side of heaven. Two families, that if I was really honest with my flesh, I'd never want to be. Two families, that as I watch them go through what they do, I admire, and in my deepest, deepest heart you want what they have....a glimpse of God. Him. The ability to put one foot in front of the other, despite the barren place their feet are taking them.....the place He's calling them...the place where He is.

I've hesitated to even write about this, so profoundly it's affected me. And also, I'm a little embarrassed, as though I was ticketed for rubber-necking at the scene of an car accident. You see, I'm a visual learner. I hardly learn anything through my ears. I love the picture, the color, the line, the value. I need to see. When I first became a Christian, I was so frustrated learning about the Israelites in the desert, still falling away from a God that they could literally see. For goodness sake, a pillar and a cloud.....if I could have that.....right in my back yard, I am pretty sure I'd be GOOD! Darn straight. No golden cows for me. Now, I'm fairly sure I'm a little delusional regarding my ability to stay sinless, given what the bible says about my natural state, but I'd at least be BETTER if I could stake my life on what I SEE. Know what I mean? I'd like to think I'd be less distracted by the things that really don't matter. Wishful thinking, probably. But still....

Take Ella, for instance. She is the lovely daughter of our good friends from California, and now Colorado, Josh and Tina. You can read her story at www.ellawest.com but I will give you the short version here. Josh and Tina really hoped for a child, but it was looking like that just not happening for them, and would likely be an impossibility. They dealt with this with grace and humor, and hung with us as we popped out one baby after another. I'm sure the tears were there, but at every opportunity, they proclaimed the fame of God in their situation. Last winter we received a card that said that they were expecting, and we rejoiced in a big way! I emailed Tina in July....wanting to send a gift for the sweet babe expected in August. She emailed me that she had just given birth to a baby girl with a potentially fatal birth defect called CDH. Thus began my www.ellawest.com addiction. This is a kid who was given odds of about 20%. A kid who spent weeks on a machine that made every medical professional I spoke to pale, and say "That's a really sick baby" (translation: don't get your hopes up). A baby with no lungs to speak of, with all her organs knit together in an unusual place. These are parents who refused to abort their baby, who, by the grace of God, were able to move thousands of miles to a strange place.......where weeks turned into months........9 months exactly. (That's ironic, isn't it? ) A place where angels disguised as doctors saved their baby, brought them dinner, loved them......a place where HE was. The place where they found HIM, in a way they hadn't before. And you know, they shared Him....spread His fame....talking daily about what they saw Him do. And they posted pictures.....visual manna for my hungry eyes......Yes, God. You still do miracles. My pillar of cloud that I wake up and view at www.ellawest.com challenges me to REALLY follow him. Praise God for his indescribable gift in sweet Ella.......Only the Lord himself knows how many people came to their knees because of her. And it is this, that gives our precious friends the ability to set one foot in front of the other.............knowing that He saved their baby.....that he will be with them through the surgeries to come, the delays, the questions, the quest for the right doctors.....whatever comes. God gave them what they asked. They had to do hard things, but they did them. And now, miracle of all miracles....they are taking their baby home to Colorado in just a few short days. And we get to see them and kiss her little face. Selah.

And then there is Noah.....the fuzzy haired blond boy belonging to a sweet Christian couple that I know only through this computer screen, and one phone call a few years ago. They run a home business selling homeschool history kits, and I called to ask some questions once. I spoke to Kate, and we discovered that we both had sons who were recovering from severe autism. Fast forward a few years and a random prayer request later, and I came upon http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull/ and became acquainted with Baby Noah. Kate's little baby was diagnosed with a most likely fatal mitochondrial defect that leaves him unable to metabolize his food or control his body temperature. The food that they have to feed him will eventually kill him. They have no good answers, ever. It has been bad news, on top of bad news. Literally. For example, while Noah was so terribly sick, their small daughter was attacked in their suburban back yard by a rabid squirrel, and had to endure the rabies treatment. Truth is stranger than fiction. But man, is God showing himself ever present in the lives of this family. The faith and trust that they display is jaw-dropping, and not in a "Oh, God has a reason behind everything" placating type of way. It's a rubber-hitting-the-road-flames-a-mile-high kind of faith. That's where the pillar of fire comes in. That's why I read their blog everyday and why I pray throughout the day for Kate, Jeff, Noah, and all the member of the Estes family.

I hate that it takes the trials of these families and the weakest among them to make me honestly face the God I claim to love, but so often forget, amid the trivial distractions of my life. I wish I was capable of more on my own. But in my weakness, I find Him. I am the hitchhiker.....bumming a ride from these families on the road to His neighborhood of many mansions. . Embarrassed at my need. Grateful for the movement from the place I was to the place I could not get. The heart is a beggar.

Lord, please bless these families today. Thank you for them. Thank you for their faith. Thank you for the way that you never waste a hurt. Thank you that You have demonstrated oh so many times that you are ever present in the time of trouble. Thank you for holding them up. And thank you for letting me watch. Because I need to see.

2008-05-13T09:25:00.002-04:00

10 Day E-Bay Challenge

I decide this week that I would be resourceful when it comes to getting us set up for the next school year. One of the things that I really wanted to do was to purchase a laptop for school planning, so I could leave the premises, or take it into the yard while the kids were playing to do do lesson plans. I received birthday money for almost all of it, but then I blew it on.....curriculum for next year. I was impatient to get my new Tapestry of Grace! So I decided that if I sold 10 items a day on Ebay, for 10 days, for just 5$ a peice, I'd have the money for my computer. I have been pulling out old clothes that don't fit, school books I know we won't use again, CD's I'm not that fond of.....basically anything I can ask myself "Would I rather have _________ or a laptop?" If the answer is laptop, onto Ebay the object goes. The scary thing is that I haven't really had to try that hard to look for stuff to sell. I've barely left my school room and I'm already up to 110$ in bids and my auctions don't close for another 4 days. This is only three days into the challenge!

So, dear readers, what great tool could you use? What could you get rid of? Anyone want to join me in the challenge? And declutter your home at the same time! What a deal! Come on, Vick....you KNOW you want that Garage Band set up! Start making a pile today!

Love, Lesli

2008-05-13T08:48:00.002-04:00

Mother's Day Musings

I had a great Mother's Day! My day started with the clatter of pots and pans at 5:30am (they were a little eager to make me breakfast) and a cup of coffee by my bedside. I sipped my coffee in bed (oh, the luxury) and read "I Saw the Angel in the Marble" - a book of essays on homeschooling. Then I closed my eyes and spent some time just thinking about the lofty ideas I had been reading about. Another luxury.....a completed thought. When I was called to breakfast, the table was set with bacon, eggs, toast, and PRESENTS! My husband and children showered me with lovelies....perfume, nail stuff, and bath goodies! AND a copy of Southern Living with a five dollar bill inside for coffee! What a great day with my sweeties. Then it was off to church and another great sermon from Pastor Dan.

We decided to join two other familes for lunch at a place called The Golden Corral. We had never been there before, but our friends said it was a great place to take kids. Turns out, it is a southern all-you-can-eat buffet. And, man, are they serious! After waiting in line in the roller-coaster-type line apparatus, we were given bright colored plates and shown to a huge table that accomadated the six grown-ups and our 14 collective kids. They had about every kind of food you could imagine, including fried chicken livers, okra, grits, and lots of other Southern specialties. They also had Chinese food and Mexican food, and a huge dessert buffet. It was WILD! Our whole family ate for 41$ including drinks and dessert. We all ate until we were stuffed. It was fun hanging out with the Schultz's and Miller's and laughing so hard I think I lost Diet Coke out of my nose at least twice. We had a fabulous friendly waitress who treated us like we were royalty, despite 14 rowdy kids and several drink spills. All in all it was a great time.

When I got home, I started thinking about previous Mother's Day, especially my first. I beleive it was the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach, for about 50$ a head....champagne brunch, dressed to the nines with my ONE little 8 month old baby, also dressed to the nines in an outfit that probably cost as much as mine......china....crystal....champagne....beach view.....tuxedoed waiters....ice sculptures, etc. Yes, we were the OC beautiful people back then. We used a credit card to pay the bill that we couldn't afford to be at a place to impress ourselves. Ick.

Fast forward 10 years, 4 children, 3000 miles across the country. Brunch at the cheesy "Golden Trough" in Bubbaville Georgia was so much more fun and memorable. The waitress was more gracious, the children were happier, and I don't even think their clothes matched. My "baby" was wearing a Christmas dress, pink glitter ballet slippers, and the bow from her Georgia Bulldogs cheerleading costume. Did I mention that she dresses herself?

We were with some of the best friends we've ever known, with their kids that we love like our own. And we paid our 41$ in cash. Yee Haw. Bubbaville ROCKs and God is ever so good to allow us to live here.

2008-05-08T09:25:00.003-04:00

I promised a friend to post a "real" picture for every "supermom" picture that I post, so you all realize that a picture is not always representative of what is going on in my house. So.............while all that card creativity was going on in the kitchen, and all that reading aloud was going on in the family room, and my oldest dd was upstairs sick with a very "dramatic" cold, this is what happened in the schoolroom. Needless to say, my free time today will be fixing this mess. AND filling out the mountain of paperwork for our Autism evaluation at Emory tomorrow. Luke will be seen by 13 different specialists at the Marcus Institute. We are very excited about being accepted into this research study....it will give us access to professionals we could never a)afford and b)get an appointment with. I should have a very cool report in my hands giving me a clear picure of where Mr. Luke is at in all different areas, which will be a great help when selecting our resources for next year. AND I have to take back the pile of overdue library books in the above photo. AND take a very shaggy young man to Blalocks for a haircut - don't want him looking like THAT for his Emory evaluation! AND get in my attendence forms. Yeesh. Lilly is yelling "Oh NO! MESSY! MESSY!" This can't be good.

2008-05-07T17:06:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day From the Richard's Card Factory. We spent last night being creative and making cards for all the grandma's. My sweet husband surprised me with this one that he painted himself. Isn't he talented? This was quite out of the box for him, and I'm so proud of him for getting in there and getting creative, my beloved accountant type-of-guy. Anyway, he left it out for me this morning so I could enjoy it all week.

MOTHER'S DAY DISCLAIMER...boys make really weird Mother's Day cards.....with things THEY like, like soldiers, weapons, machines, ghosts, etc. I take no responsibility. I suggested some more "feminine" options and they looked at me like I had 7 heads. So be prepared. So far there is no blood and guts drawn on any of them, so that's good. But it's still early. I'm just saying.......

Be INSPIRED.....Mother's Day is COMING.....make it fun!

A great family activity is to have a basket of art supplies, cardstock, envelopes, stamps, collage stuff, glitter glue (no glitter - it's banned from our house, but that's another story) to set in the middle of the table after dinner. Have everyone make cards for someone who is sick, or an upcoming birthday or holiday. It's fun to see how even dads get into this when given the supplies and the freedom to create (not just produce). One of our best memories is when Grandpa and JoJo came over during Valentine's Day Week. We had a dinner of pizza and strawberry soda in champagne flutes....very exciting! Then I pulled out some cookie sheets filled with paper, doilies, rubber stamps, etc. We all made cards for each other. I have saved them, and especially love the one my Dad made for me. It was a great night!

I think that being creative is really important, ESPECIALLY for grown-ups who get so caught up in the maintenance of everyday life that they ignore/stifle that God-given facet of themselves. Let's remember to give these opportunities to our families, and especially our spouses...even though it might be messy. Besides, does Hallmark really NEED another 4 bucks? I'd rather have a fancy coffee drink at my favorite establishment, which my husband lovingly calls "Fourbucks" because that's how much is always on my debit card statement.

Enough rambling....someone is yelling "GIVE ME BACK MY GUN!"...... no it's not a real gun, but one made out of Zoob building pieces.....my boys have been known to bite their toast into gun shapes. It's a genetic thing, and nothing that a girl brought up so close to Berkeley would have taught her sons. Anyway, I need to go in there and give them a serious talking to about peace, love and understanding. Love, Lesli

2008-05-07T11:51:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite resources is Old Schoolhouse Magazine. They send you TONS of free gifts with your subscription. We have received great stuff like puzzles, Usborne book sets, cookbooks, software, etc. I highly recommend subscribing soon, because once they run out of gift packages they are GONE!

Here is the link.

This link will show you the pictures of your free gifts, plus gives youall the details - it's over $500 worth of FREE curriculum items for you whenyou subscribe. The magazine sold out two months early last promo. Last year you had to buy a two year sub to get the gifts - this year you pay less - just a one year sub gets you IN. Hurry if you want to claim your stuff! The promo started out with 3,000 packages, 1/3 are sold.

Love, Lesli

2008-05-05T11:27:00.002-04:00

This will be a quick post this morning....I spent the weekend at the homeschool convention doing research on the upcoming year. I found some neat things I'd never seen before. I bought some beautiful handwriting and copywork books from www.queenhomeschool.com for all you Charlotte Mason fans. I also picked up a really neat book on lapbooks that I am hoping to add to our school day next year. I went by myself on Friday night to stay the night with my girlfriends, and Brendan brought the kids over the next day. The kids loved being at the convention. Rebecca played chess all day and learned quite a few tricks from the Chessmaster. She looked so cute sitting there....the boys were elbowing each other out of the way to play with her, and she was beating most of them good, especially with her new knowledge from the Chessmaster. Luke bounced between the chess table and the science experiments. He was given the job of carrying a giant rocket through the convention center and shouting "Rocketry show in 10 minutes!" Sam was mostly excited about the cotton candy. Lilly was so good in her stroller...she colored in her new color book with her markers most of the day.

Now I have to go through the great mental challenge of figuring out all their books and how much they will cost. Then I will go back to the convention in July and purchase. I'll buy most things through www.tapestryofgrace.com and the rest at convention.

BUT before I do that......I am trying to read this book http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210001779&sr=8-1 Getting things DONE! I wish I knew how to put the pretty Amazon linky thing with the picture on my blog, but I don't have time to figure it out today. I am trying to order everything I have to do into his system and see if it works for me during the summber months, and then incorporate it into our school life. I really want my kids to be better about setting goals and getting things done on a routine than their parents are! It's a weakness that both Brendan and I recognize, so we are hoping to teach ourselves and them at the same time. Anyway.....the laundry is calling and the baby is WAY too quiet, which probably involves nail polish or Sharpie markers. Oddly, the boys are not bickering, so something is probably wrong there too. But, there you go. I blogged today. Cross that one off the list. I am getting things DONE! Love, Lesli

2008-04-20T00:27:00.003-04:00

Okay, I just have to comment about Rich's comment......as I recall, we went fishing just downstream from the truck that happened to be stocking the river......I seem to remember Rich having an unfair advantage over the fish. And me feeling sorry for them. And all he remembers is the pretty red of the bait! FISH KILLER! LOL.

2008-04-18T07:55:00.007-04:00

Flashback Friday-April 18, 2008

I am flashing back to thinking about San Jose Family Camp, where I spent time every summer of my childhood as far back as I can remember, until I got too old and too cool to spend the summers away from my friends. My great-uncle managed the camp for the city of Oakland for many years. My mom and my grandparents grew up going there as well. It was a dreamlike place, along the Tuoloume (sp?) river and it had two particularly amazing features. One was the beautiful patio that overlooked the river, lined with deck chairs and ping pong tables...big enough for dancing every Wednesday night. You could look over the river and there was an island that we would go explore...it was where the men played horseshoes. The other amazing feature was the pool carved right out of the river. It was huge, and cold....snow melt from the Yosemite Valley filled it, but it was wonderful! On Sundays, the men would play a football game in it with a greased watermelon.

The best thing was that we had this absolute freedom to roam. My cousin Rich and I would buy these cheap cheesie rafts at the camp store in neon colors and raft down the river, from the time we were about 6 years old, with no one watching us. We could wander along the river, play in the fort, run the meadow, play any number of organized games and activities with no adult interference at all.......as long as we showed up to eat when the dinner bell rang. Meals were served in a big dining hall family style. Man....life was beautiful then. There are pages and pages I could write on the years at camp, but for now, I'll just try to control my urge to get to the mountains, which always starts around this time.....only a month more til camp, right after Grandpa's birthday, off we'd go for the work weekend. I get really antsy this time of year and just HAVE to be outside. Anyone from the family have any old family photos of us at camp? I don't have any. Mom, Rich, maybe you could forward this to Steve, Doug, Uncle Stuart, etc.....I'd love to have some. Here is a link to the slide show I put together on photobucket....anyone have any family ones to add? I'd love it if you'd leave a comment of your favorite camp memories.

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk288/leslis_pix/?action=view&current=0e8958bf.pbw

Love, Lesli

2008-04-09T15:10:00.003-04:00

Here are some of the great moments from China and India.

2008-04-09T11:47:00.003-04:00

Pictures of Ms. Becca' s happenings....She is learning to quilt and has designed this square. She has since embroidered on the bottom " In April, we go to the beach in Destin, Florida" and has decided her quilt will be a family memories quilt. She is working on a snowman to celebrate the two snow days we had this year now. Rebecca and I went to the Secret Keeper Girls Banquet and Fashion show. Here she is with her friend Annie.

2008-04-08T12:23:00.005-04:00

It has been so long since I have had time to blog, but my daughter's new blog at

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thedailyweave

has me inspired to get started again. And why, you ask, has it been so long? Well, I've actually been schooling my children well and trying to stay away from time suckers like blogs. Now, good school days usually mean bad house days. For every fun photo I post, I should post one like this one of my family room, lest you err and think I have it all together. We have had some great fun studying this year. Now we are traveling double-time through Greece to get finished this year. This means the kids are doing twice as much work every week, and they are taking it pretty well. Here is a photo of Luke doing a taxonomy exercise with his Legos this morning and one of them working on the Trojan horse. Brendan built a box that fits on the wagon, and we are making the head this week. The kids wanted to go for a walk in it (all closed up in the box) and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering if they should call Child Protective Services on us for keeping our kids in a wooden crate on walks. But they love it, and there will probably be some epic battles going on once we finish the armor! Today we need to build some kind of tactile map of the Greek Isles....I'm trying to decide between a salt map or a really big map in our baby pool. I'm thinking the baby pool might come in handly if we get some warmer weather, so I'm leaning toward the salt map and trying to convince the troops it's the way to go. However, they think big, and want a decent size Greece to play with soldiers on. And by the way, did you know that Greek toy soldiers are extremely expensive? I saw some for about 300$ for ONE! Sorry boys, make some little sheilds for the green men and call it a day. Samuel says that it is fine...he'll just call our Egyptians Greeks. They're all Greek to him.

2007-11-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

Okay...time to work on our soup some more........The chicken should be nice and done. Carefully take the chickens out and set them aside to debone. Strain the rest of the broth through a strainer into a bowl (you might have to do this in stages if your bowl is small). Add the broth back into the cooker. Cut up some carrots if you want to add more veggies, and throw them in the cooker until they are done, at 400. Then add your noodles or dumplings and cook until they are done. Then add the frozen peas and let them cook about 5 minutes. Lastly add the deboned chicken. Check your liquid to solid ratio and add more water with bouillon if you think you need it.

After it cools, you can put it into gallon size freezer bags. You can take some and put it into your crockpot insert and freeze it in that shape. You can pull out the frozen chunk and put it into one of those REALLY big freezer bags they sell now. Then you are ready to take a meal if someone you know is sick, or you can buy some store bought rolls and dessert and have another family over for lunch after church. It really didn't take any more time to do this much than just one pot. This is the way I love to cook.

2007-11-26T09:49:00.001-05:00

How to have a Webkins Birthday Party for about 20$

On November 7th Samuel turned 5. He was so excited to have a webkins party. I felt pretty financially challenged for this one, as we have had so many medical expenses with both Luke and myself. I had a budget of 20$. Here is what we did:

Called and invited 6 homeschooling families to come over. The reason that they are homeschooling families is significant is that this means ALL children are coming to the party. We had 32 children! I did not make fancy invitations or spend money on postage to send them.

Brendan cut a wooden Wheel of Wow out of wood and Samuel painted it. All stuff we had around the house. You could easily make one out of posterboard if you didn't have wood.

I made cupcakes from cake mix and frosted them with homemade buttercream icing. I decorated them with bright colored sprinkes. I bought juice boxes. I made a coconut cake and made tea for the moms. Altogether, the food probably cost me about 7$.

I bought some prizes for the games and some balloons from the party store. I spent 8$ on those. I used leftover Halloween candy for prizes as well. The kids made homemade "Welcome to Webkins World" signs for the door.

We set up a Webkins store on the dining room table and placed our Wheel of Wow there. The kids would spin for prizes or play money (with Sam's picure on it) to spend later at the Webkins store.

We blew up about 60 balloons and placed a dollar of play money inside each. We put them in trash bags until right before the party when we put them inside our trampoline. The kids played "Wacky Zingo's Jump" and popped balloons to get cash.

We had a relay race where the kids had to go from one side of the yard to the other with a webkin on their head. We timed the teams, but they all earned cash. :)

We had a gem hunt by taking a few bags of those glass rocks from Michaels (.99 on the clearance rack) and hiding them around the perimeter of our yard. They LOVED this!

At the end we let them spend their cash on prizes and candy. The prizes were bubbles, pencils, notepads, and candy.

I sent them home with a bag of homemade pancake mix in a cellophane bag tied with 6 animal shaped cookie cutters. I made Webkins Pancake mix tags for them by scanning a tag and using the picture. The cookie cutters were at Michaels for 50 for 8.99, and I had a 40% off coupon!

From what I have heard, they all enjoyed it.

It was fun to have the budget perameters and try to be creative. They all seemed to have a great time, and Samuel thought it was the best party ever!

2007-11-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

wow...am I behind on the blogging! I have several things I want to blog about, so I'll write them down here so that I have some accountability.

1. Sam's 20$ Webkin party

2. Autism, Haircuts, and Blalocks Barber and Realty

3. Our fabulous Thanksgiving with the Millers and our family

But first, I must make sure my family is fed, so we will have a Chicken Soup Cook-Along! Many of you know that I am totally enamored with my Rival 20 quart turkey roaster, which did a great job on Thanksgiving, but is also a real work horse all year round. Today, we are going to do a quadruple recipe of Chicken Soup to freeze or share. So, get out of your jammies and go buy:

4 whole chickens (4-5lbs each) Mine came from Costco and cost 15$ for all four

1 jar McCormick chicken base - again from Costco and cost about 3$ You can also use Better Than Bouillon from the grocery store, or just dissolve the appropriate amount of bouillon into the water.

4 large onions, quartered studded with 8 whole cloves (total - not on each one)

10 large carrots, peeled and cut in two

1 large head celery with leaves, stalks cut in two

1/2 cup chopped garlic I buy this in bulk at Costco in the spice section

1 tablespoon dried dill

2 tablespoons dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Noodles or dumplings of your choice..... I use potato gnocchi from the refrigerated section of Trader Joes

4 bags frozen peas

Okay.....you back from the store yet? Put your cooker on the counter away from little hands. It can get hot on the sides. Rinse off your chickens and place in the cooker. It doesn't matter if they are rock solid frozen. Mine didn't come with the little plastic bag of parts so it doesn't need to be thawed first. Add your onions, celery, carrots, garlic and spices to the pot around and on top of the chickens. Use a 2 quart measuring cup to mix up some broth using your chicken base or bouillon. Pour the broth over the chickens and vegetables until the water comes to about 1 inch from the top of the cooker. It took me about 2 gallons of broth.

Now put that lid on and crank that sucker up to about 450 until it starts to boil, then you can turn it down to about 350 and let it simmer for about 2-3 hours when the meat of the chicken starts coming off the bone.

Great...now that we have dinner actively cooking, I can tell you about Sam's great birthday party.

2007-11-05T19:47:00.000-05:00

It was a fun Halloween for the Richard's kids...they kissed their little black kitty good-bye and went off trick-or-treating at Grandpa and JoJo's neighborhood. The houses are closer together so they can get more loot! And they love hanging out with Grandpa on Halloween. Rebecca was dressed in a blue sweat suit with clouds all over it and carried a spray bottle...she was "Cloudy with a Chance of Rain" and enjoyed squirting her spray bottle at her brother. Luke decided "I'm not into the costumes, Mom...I'll just wear my Boy Scout uniform..."glad I didn't stay up all night working on the Egypt thing! Samuel was a dragon and Lilly Grace was a chicken. She had a great time saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!" It was a beautiful night and we had our traditional Minestrone Meatball soup for dinner.

2007-10-29T22:57:00.000-04:00

We had such a nice day in the Richards house. It started out a little scary...Mom coming back to the house after three days, only to find that poor Dad had the stomach flu and the natives were ruling the island, so to speak. I decided to call a Teacher Work Day. I figure the school does it all the time, so why can't I? The kids were all so helpful in getting things picked up that I made them a special lunch and let them watch "The Aristocats" in the basement. This allowed me to vaccum and mop the main floor. I timed myself and this takes approximately 75 minutes. No wonder I have a hard time fitting it in. It was so nice putting praise music on and getting this done. But the best blessing came as I brought their lunch tray to the basement. I served them their food on a special little table with a table cloth....I was really trying to make them feel honored for working so hard. The movie had already started as I walked out. I was starting up the stairs and heard Luke say "Wait, just a minute." I thought he was talking to me, but as I poked my head through the door I saw that he was speaking to his siblings, as he paused the movie. He said "Before we eat, let me lead us in prayer." He prayed the most beautiful blessing over their little basement picnic. I was so proud of him, knowing he's following in his Daddy's footsteps, learning to lead his own family some day. I love that even with special goodies in front of him and no grownups watching (or so he thought) he picked up that mantle. As I was done mopping he came up with a board game and asked if I had time to play it with him. I dropped to my knees and looked him in the eye and told him that he had blessed me so much by leading his brother and sister in that prayer, and by keeping things peaceful while I cleaned. I told him that there was nothing on earth I would rather do than play that game with him. The look on his face was worth a million dollars. The trouble is, often I tell him "No." because there are dishes to wash and floors to scrub and laundry to do. But today was different......somebody must have been praying for me, because today felt just as refreshing as the retreat I went on this weekend.....it's seeing that fruit bud that makes the hard work seem not so hard at all, but eternal in value and time well spent.

2007-10-29T21:41:00.000-04:00

Here is a video of Luke and Rebecca at their 4H science club, Cloverbuds. It meets once a month. Every month they have to give a presentation on a different science topic. This month it was the human body and they decided to give their speech on Baby Ella and CDH. The video also includes a Baby Lilly tantrum special....if you listen carefully, you can hear the skittles rattling in Dad's pocket as he tries to quiet her down! Big thanks to Daddy for being the homeschooling superdad and commandeering the whole operation while Mom was in the mountains on a retreat. This is our first video posting and we are excited to see if it works and if you all can view it. Let us know in the comments section!

2007-10-22T14:45:00.000-04:00

Here are my two boys having a sweet moment at the pumpkin patch....a moment not spent pummeling each other or tattling on each other. There are so many days that I stuggle with my "oil and water" boys...surely given to each other by God as heavenly sandpaper. One day last week, I was especially blessed by this writing by Ann Voskamp. I know Ann and I will have a wonderful conversation in heaven some day about how much she encourages me, although we've never met.

http://holyexperience.blogspot.com/2007/10/all-is-well-see-well.html

2007-10-22T14:36:00.000-04:00

It has been a few days since I have blogged because we were blessed to have Grammy and Mamie come to visit from California. We had a great time. On Friday we visited the American Girl Place and had ice cream at their old fashioned ice cream fountain. Grammy bought each child a toy at the mall and there was much tough deliberation about what to choose! On Saturday we went to Burt's Farm out in the country to get a pumpkin and went on a hayride. It was a gorgeous day and we all had a great time. We were really sorry that they had to go so early on Sunday morning.

2007-10-11T17:51:00.000-04:00

Meet Smokey...our new kitty.....he is a great addition to our homeschool. He sleeps in the kids desk cubbies while they study. He is perking up old Molly, our 15 year old kitty. We obtained him from our friends who had a birthday party and let all the little girls play with the kittens. He came home more or less in our goody bag! Lilly Grace especially loves him and calls "Mokey.....Mokey." from her crib when she wakes up. He is very sweet and lets her carry him around in what appear to be the most uncomfortable positions. Right now he is asleep in a basket on my desk.

2007-10-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

Here are the girls working on their coloring pages during bible time...we are working on Exodus Chapters 1-5. Some great workpages can be found here: http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/pdf/Old/Curr034.pdf Their lessons include a page where they have to fill in the missing words in the bible passage, a world search, crossword and a coloring page. There are versions for 1/2 grade and 3-6th grade. In our family EVERYONE wants to color, no matter how old they are (including MOM!) so I print those out for everyone.

2007-10-11T17:29:00.000-04:00

The Best Laid Plans are all in vain.......... sweet Samuel has the stomach flu. Poor little guy was miserable all day and really needed me, so school was called off for Luke. Rebecca kept plugging away and got her stuff done. I laid him on the couch of my room and spent the day going through the baby's clothes and realistically trying to keep only what she needs. We have been so blessed by people giving us so many hand-me-downs. I usually box them up by size and put them in the basement. By the time I open the box when she gets to that size, we have way more than one baby girl could ever wear. Her drawers end up stuffed and she wears the 6 outfits on the top over and over. I feel as though others could benefit from all those clothes, so I decided to only keep what she needs. I cleared, ehem, 2 1/2 black trash bags filled with baby clothes out of her room. How embarrassing. I will be taking them over to goodwill tomorrow when Rebecca and I go hunting for jeans for her. I am going to to the same thing tomorrow in the boys room. I really dread this seasonal clothes shifting every year (didn't have to do that in California!) but I feel energized by getting that much out of the house. I am trying to get all the kids clothes shifted and lists made of what they need by the end of the week.

2007-10-07T20:38:00.000-04:00

I've had my Sunday night planning session thanks to my fabulous husband who kept the little ones out of the schoolroom for a few hours......Here are our plans for the week!

Bible: Exodus 1-5 (the Israelites life of slavery)
Hymn Study: Amazing Grace/John Newton (which will take us on a Wilberforce/slavery rabbit trail I'm sure
History: Lectures on Egyptian Government, Pyramids, Mummys and a few days on famous pharoahs - Lots of reading on these topics as well. We will make Egyptian paddle dolls, some pyramid models for our Nile river, and at the end of the week will be casting the childrens faces to make King Tut type gold masks, but with the actual facial features of the children. I'm not so sure Luke will be up for this, but the others will be, I'm sure. I think we will skip mummifying the chicken this time around.
Science - they are all begining to read about the human body for their science presentation at their science club at the end of the month. Rebecca has already decided that she wants to do hers on Baby Ella's birth defect and how the doctors were able to fix it. We will spend a week or two doing general reading and then let them pick a specific topic or experiment.
Reading: Rebecca is reading The Golden Goblet, and Luke is reading a book on King Tut.
Writing: Rebecca will be doing a rough draft of a compare/contrast essay on living in California vs. Georgia and preparing pre-writing line diagrams and sequence charts for government and mummification. Luke will be learning about pronouns this week.
Geography - we will be making salt maps of imaginary places depicting all kinds of new land forms they learned about last week like bluffs and archipegalos.

The little ones will be doing Interlock preschool....we are learning about light and shadows this week. Samuel is doing Explode the Code phonics. I am mainly doing alot of reading and messy art with them at this stage.

Well, those are my big plans this week...this will be my accountability forum to get it all done!

2007-10-07T14:39:00.000-04:00

Here is Samuel playing with our Egypt people. They are sold in a tube at Michaels for about 3$ and have provided much fun!

2007-10-07T14:23:00.000-04:00

Luke and Rebecca working on a scavenger hunt...they had to search their bibles for all they could find on Egypt- imports, exports, daily life, etc. Here is the link to the hunt, if anyone out there is studying Egypt.

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/egyptianbible.pdf

2007-10-07T14:20:00.000-04:00

This is Rebecca wearing her favorite t-shirt to go to the grocery store...with the answers to the top three questions we get asked. Now if I could just find one with a snappy answer to "Are they all yours?" and "You know what causes that, don't you?"

2007-10-07T14:17:00.000-04:00

Here is Dad and Luke getting ready to go to their first Cub Scout meeting. Luke is really liking it. They go every Monday night. Luke is really into hiking and camping so it should be right up his alley!

2007-10-06T07:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a picure of the Model Nile they made on the front porch. They are "flooding" it every few days to see where the fertile soil and plants end up growing. I bought a little tube of Egyptian people and they have buried all the mummies and put the pyramids in the appropriate places....I'll post another picture of the finished project in a few days.

And so we begin......This will be a fun way to keep out-of-town family caught up on what we are doing with the kids. I'll start with a run-down on what we are doing academically this year.

We are using http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/ for six subjects: history, literature, writing, geography, fine arts, and bible. It is divided into 4 years, with 4 nine-week units per year. Each unit ends with a unit celebration. It is by far the best curriculum I have ever used. I struggle with the fact that they give you so much to do, and expect you to choose what you like and not do it all. But I LOVE it all....so...........we have spend 3 weeks on the first week of the curriculum because the children are insisting on doing ALL the assignments and all the projects. Clearly this cannot go on all year, but I have decided to let them follow their own interests in Egypt for a few extra weeks. We have never studied ancients before, so I figure it will give me some time to get used to the new curriculum and help me see what types of things each child is gravitating toward and learning from the best.

Some fun moments over the past few weeks:

Coming into the room and overhearing their plans for Halloween costumes:

Rebecca (10)- Hatshepsut (complete with the double crown of Egypt)

Luke (7)- Hyksos warrior with leather armour and a bow and arrow

Samuel (4)- "the stinx" (the sphinx)

As I listened, they discussed the possiblility of wrapping up our 15 year old cat like a mummy(not) and I suggested perhaps they wrap up Samuel's (he's 4) webkin cat instead. He said "Oh no! Mommy, Miss Birdie is just not ready for costumes!" with that big eyed look. They have not decided what Baby Lilly Grace should be, but our new black kitten will be Bastet. They are very excited. They are considering memorizing poems to tell our neighbors about their characters as they trick or treat. I'm thinking that will pretty much seal their fates as homeschool geeks...but Okay! Of course this is alot of work for me...I'm thinking "Doesn't anyone want to be Spiderman? (that I can buy off the shelf)" But then again, this is why I got into this whole homeschooling thing in the first place, right? So if my computer keys start sticking, it's because I've hit the paper mache - helping with that double crown!

Yesterday we went to see an exhibit called http://www.carlos.emory.edu/cradle/ The Cradle of Christianity. The docent there told the children "Everything you are about to see proves that Jesus Christ was a real person." How often does that happen at a museum? It was very cool. We also saw the Egyptian collection there. There is a very cool story of how the Pharoah Ramses I ended up there....3000 years ago, you think you are a god, yet you end up in a cheesy souvenir shop in Niagra Falls. Truth is stranger than fiction! The Carlos Museum did return Ramses to Egypt, but we saw other cool things. One of my favorite moments was when Rebecca let out a loud gasp and yelled "MOM! CANOPIC JARS!" Again, homeschool geekdom on display....and proud of it! We were also able to take part in an hour long storytelling workshop with Jim Weiss, one of our favorites...the children have been listening to his tapes and CD's for years.

Probably the best thing about this curriculum is the way it integrates our faith into the teaching of history. As we are studying Egpyt, we are trying to think of it in terms of what Moses did on a daily basis, what he saw out of his bedroom window, the absolute luxury of his life compared to other ancient civilizations. Even the slaves had it pretty good in Egypt. Yet he chose to leave it. And the Israelites wandered in the desert, thinking about all they had left behind. They grumbled and complained and the blessing of entering into the promised land was taken from them. Rebecca and I were pondering this and she said "Mom, do you think there are blessings that we will never see or know about because we have grumbled and complained about things?" I said, "Yes, there probably are."...and we both had a solemn moment feeling a little sick to our stomachs about what we might have missed out on just by our attitudes.....and I thought to myself.....this is why I homeschool. This is why it's okay if my house is messy sometimes, or we don't always get the time to do what I want to do. If we can raise a house full of children who are thinkers and who love the Lord and want to please him, it's all worth it.